Chuck vs Solitude
by Elysion1879
Summary: Set during the end of Season 1. Sarah leaves with Bryce. Chuck is given no choice but to join the CIA as an agent and becomes Graham's new protégé. Follows Chuck's journey since he joined the CIA and where it leads him. Mix of relationships.
1. Chuck vs Recruitment

Chuck vs. Solitude

I've felt like writing a story like this for a while, but I haven't actually sat down and started it until tonight. It will be Angsty/Adventure. If there ever will be Charah, it will be a while down the road. Based off feedback, if people like this story I'll continue to do both stories.

Sort of a brief intro: Takes place before the Beta Intersect comes online during season 1, so Graham is alive. Sarah left with Bryce instead of staying; she didn't like how close she was getting to her asset and leaves. Chuck took it pretty hard and Casey and he had unsuccessful missions after. Beckman is closing in on finishing the Beta Intersect and wanting him killed. Graham sees the potential and recruits him.

I wanted a fic with more action and less fluff than my other story. There will be lots of missions with Chuck doing a lot of unChuck things. He will have gone through proper training. If you don't like reading about Chuck killing people, this won't be a fic for you. Please pay attention to years; I plan on jumping around a bit, at least in the beginning. I hope you enjoy it. I do not own Chuck.

Chapter 1 – Chuck vs. Recruitment

* * *

**Belváros District - Downtown Budapest, Hungary**

**June 12, 2011**

**11:32 PM Friday**

A tall, well built man greets the bellboy, speaking in perfect Hungarian with a native accent, at the entrance to the apartment complex. He had an expensive suit on with matching business shoes and watch. The bellboy, like most people, assumed he was just a businessman returning to his apartment. He did blend in well. After all, there were a number of businessmen returning from their day, even at this hour.

The man walked directly to the elevator and pushed the button for the 8th floor. As he approached his floor, he pulled out a silencer and screwed it into his M9 and chambered a round then placed it back in his waistband with the safety on.

He approached his destination and pulled out a custom lock pick kit and got to work on the door. He heard the click of the latch being released and quickly made his way inside the room before he could be noticed. He had been shadowing his target for over a week, finding his weak points and best place to lay in wait for him.

He quickly made his way to the security panel and with the help of a knife, he had the panel removed. From past experience on the specific unit, he was able to find the correct circuit to short circuit and disable the alarm before it could alert anyone to his entrance.

Leaving the lights turned off, he pulled on a pair of leather gloves from his pocket and made his way around the apartment taking it in. The apartment is a loft in downtown Budapest. A few bedrooms on a second floor with wood stairs leading up to them and a few bathrooms, a study, lounge area, modern style kitchen, and of course the living room with a few scattered closets around the house.

His target, if he kept to normal patterns provided by the CIA and by his recent recon, should be returning within a few minutes. He decided to lay in wait for him just inside the kitchen, out of immediate line of sight from the door. Around 10 minutes passed before a key was heard unlocking the door.

The man entered the apartment and tossed his keys into a bowl on a table near the entrance. After he closed the door, the agent stepped out from his hiding place as the lights turned on.

"Hello István Kovach."

The man quickly turned around and tried to pull out a gun but was shot in the arm holding the gun.

"Or would you prefer Daniel Shaw?"

"Who are you?" Shaw asked, clearly in pain from his arm and worried about the man standing before him with a smoking gun still pointed in his direction.

"Prometheus."

Shaw's eyes widened. Prometheus was responsible for the downfall of Fulcrum, the destruction throughout the Ring, and the retreat of the Formax Group.

"You really should have let the past be the past. Lucky for me, killing you just happens to be desired by the CIA. Goodbye Shaw."

Prometheus stepped forward and pulled the trigger, hitting Shaw in the forehead. Shaw fell back and slumped against the wall. Prometheus picked up the shell casing and pocketed it while heading to the door. He put his M9 back in its place and took off his gloves. Once he got back out he got into his agency-provided M3 and made a call.

"Zeus, secure."

"Prometheus, secure. Objectives complete, target is dead."

"All the security footage was looped as planned. Clean kill, nice work, return to Olympus."

* * *

**Casa Bartowski-Woodcomb**

**January 20, 2008**

**3:24 AM Sunday**

Chuck was awoken by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He glanced at the clock and saw it read 3:24 AM. He tried to ignore it but the caller just called back shortly after. Chuck gave in and looked at the caller id: _unknown. _"Hello?" Chuck asked with a yawn.

Chuck heard the deep voice of Director Graham in response, "Mr. Bartowski. Meet me at your beach in 10 minutes." Then the line went dead.

Chuck muttered as he went to grab a shirt, hoody, and pants and got dressed. _I missed being able to sleep. _He grabbed his watch and keys as he headed out the Morgan door.

About 10 minutes later, Chuck pulled up to the beach. When he approached his spot, he noticed a few men in suits walking around and the hulking form of the CIA Director in front of him.

"Director?" Chuck asked awkwardly as he approached Graham.

"We needed to have a discussion without the NSA hanging onto every word." Graham responded as he turned around to face Chuck. "As you are unaware, I should inform you that the Beta version of the Intersect is almost online, Chuck."

"Does that mean I can finally get back to a normal life?" Chuck asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not, Chuck." Graham responded with an emotion that Chuck has never heard before in his voice, remorse. "The NSA and perhaps even the CIA will not allow you to walk around with the Intersect in your head. We have no way to remove the data from your brain, I'm sorry."

"Why are you telling me this then?" Chuck asked in anger. First his life gets uprooted by Bryce fucking Larkin. Then when he is finally getting his act together again after Jill, with the help from Sarah, he comes back and takes her with him. _Bryce always gets the great girls._ "So that is how this is going to work? I didn't get to even say goodbye to my family? My sister? What are you going to tell her? That I died in some stupid accident at 3:30 AM on a SUNDAY?"

"No. Well, if Beckman had her way that would probably be along the same lines. You and Casey have been in a downward spiral since Agent Walker left." Graham replied gruffly.

"Bunker or bullet, or is that too good for an American citizen. I got it! How about just some accident? Or is that why you had me come out here, so you could have me killed and fake my suicide at my favorite spot to come think or at least it used to be?"

Graham did the one thing that Chuck never expected to hear from him, after remorse and compassion – he laughed. It was a dry laugh, but it was a laugh nonetheless. "No Chuck, I am here to offer you a job. You've done good work for your country. It would a waste, not to mention against the ideals that we are trying to protect to just have you killed. I'll give you a cause to believe in, to get yourself over the heartbreak of when Sarah left and add meaning to your life. Admit it, the good you've done has made you feel better about your life. It has given you a purpose. I can provide that for you still."

"But as an Analyst?" Chuck asked, still angry.

"No, I think you have the potential to be much, much more than that Mr. Bartowski. This is the life that would have been yours had Bryce Larkin not interfered."

_So I either become an agent or I get a bullet to the back of my head._ "What will I tell Ellie? I won't just have her think I abandoned her like my mother and father did."

"As little as possible. You will inform her that you got a job working for the CIA, as an analyst in DC. You can also tell the same to Morgan and Devon."

"Thank you. I suppose that is believable enough. When do I leave?"

"I'll make arrangements. The NSA will not like this, but I will give them little choice and they won't know where you really went until you are trained. Expect to go back to Langley on my jet later today. Go through your normal work day tomorrow. Don't worry about taking anything; we'll have everything packed away in storage. You will be training for at the minimum of four to five months. Depending how well you do, I might send you off to specialized training. I am confident you will excel in training - if how you've dealt with this life so far, without training, is any indication. Not to mention your retention rates, we might be able to help you out with help from the Intersect as well."

"Like what?" Chuck's curiosity peaked.

"Languages for one. Our scientists have a theory that it might be possible to include certain things into the Intersect update we will have coming up. Weapons, martial arts, and the like you will learn through training. Cryptography, linguistics, hacking on a completely different level, and related subjects are strong possibilities in the future."

_Hacking? Government sponsored hacking lessons? Awesome. _"That's _awesome_, but I'm not sure how I will handle being able to take a life."

"It will be hard, son, but with training you will get through it. Look at it this way; you will be protecting your sister and her boyfriend, as well as, many other innocent lives."

Chuck nodded while in thought. _I suppose have no choice and this would give me a purpose and direction in my life. _

"We'll discuss this more on the plane to Langley, Mr. Bartowski. Your country thanks you."

Chuck recognized a dismissal and turned to leave, but not before saying "Thanks, see you this afternoon."

Graham nodded to himself, since Chuck already made his way to the nerd herder. He turned to look at the ocean to think everything through. _Beckman is such an idiot. All she had to do was appeal to his patriotic and protectiveness of those he loves and he would do anything for them. The CIA will gain both control of the only human Intersect and I'll gain a new protégé, since Walker decided to throw everything in my face by leaving with Larkin against orders. Regardless she is doing too much in the war against Fulcrum for me to reprimand her for the time being._

As Graham continued his inner dialog, he had a sudden thought causing an amused grin to form. _I'm sure when she finds out about what she helped turn Chuck into, that it will affect her enough to serve as her reprimand. I hope globetrotting with Larkin was worth it. She should have known after her being the only voice that made everyone else see Chuck as a human being, not just the Intersect, that something drastic would happen to him without her here. I suppose this will work out even better for the CIA._

_

* * *

_

**Burbank Buy More**

**January 20, 2008**

**10:24 AM Sunday**

Chuck had arrived in work an hour and a half ago and was currently working through invoices and other paper work. At least he was making it look like that was the case, instead he was thinking over his conversation with Graham last night. _I always thought he was more of a hard ass out of the two directors. Maybe he really does see my potential of being meant to do more with my life. I would have been in the CIA, maybe even Sarah's partner if he hadn't kicked me out from Stanford. Of course he is getting both a possible agent and the human Intersect under the control of the CIA. Both of course mean possibly more funding for the CIA and more prestige for himself, fucking politics. _Chuck sighed thinking about Sarah again. _I need to forget her, like she has probably already forgotten me. Why did it have to be Bryce fucking Larkin? _He sighed loudly, bringing Casey over.

"What now Numbnuts? Still moping around about Walker?" Casey asked, enjoying his daily twisting the knife in about Sarah leaving.

"No." Chuck says, almost convincing himself but it manages to satisfy Casey, for the moment. Chuck looks away from Casey and notices the pita girl, Lizzie shamelessly flirting with Jeff and Lester, he was about to look away when he noticed Lizzie pull a small object out of her shorts and place it under the camera table. "…Casey we have a problem."

"What?" Casey asked with a grunt.

"Lizzie, the pita girl, just placed what was most likely a bug under the camera display." Chuck said, slightly in freak out mode.

Casey turned to look as Lizzie started to strut out of the store after completely shutting Lester down. "I'll follow her, go see if that is a bug or just a piece of gum. Text me with which one it is. Don't alert anyone else that is what you are doing, got it?" Casey managed to say before quickly turning and jogging towards the entrance of the Buy More.

Chuck did as he was told and grabbed a few boxes from under the Nerd Herd counter. He walked over to the display case and looked around discretely. He bent down and felt for the object, as he thought it was a GLG-20. He quickly texted Casey.

Chuck went back to his desk and sat down waiting impatiently to hear from Casey. After a few minutes, Casey called him back.

He answered to Casey's gruff voice. "Meet me at my apartment asap."

"On my way out." Chuck replied as he grabbed his keys and jogged out to the herder. Chuck arrived back at Casey's apartment and knocked. Casey answered shortly after and waved him in quickly, apparently he was in the middle of a meeting with Beckman and Graham.

"We are lucky the asset noticed Lizzie when he did." Beckman said, not too happy about encouraging Chuck in the slightest.

"It would seem relocation couldn't come at a better time. We were able to contain the problem before Lizzie could contact her superiors. Once we relocate Bartowski, the heat should die down around the LA area and take the focus off the Buy More."

"Sir? What relocation? Why wasn't I told?" Casey demanded angrily.

"It would seem that Graham got authorization to bring Mr. Bartowski in for proper training as an Agent for the CIA. While I am not happy…"

"The CIA gave up control of the Beta Intersect to the NSA in exchange for Mr. Bartowski." Graham interrupted smugly.

Chuck's eyes widened at the news, knowing how much the two agencies play politics. He was surprised Graham either had such faith in him or little faith in the Beta Intersect.

_Thank the St. Reagan that I won't have to terminate Bartowski now. _Casey let out an approving grunt, not about the Beta Intersect, but in thanks for not having to terminate an American citizen.

"We will take care of your leaving the Buy More, Chuck. Just say your goodbyes and be ready to take off from Bob Hope Airport via CIA jet within two hours." Graham said before disconnecting.

Beckman reached for the button to terminate the connection on her end, but decided to hold off. "If it's any consolation, I am happy with how things turned out for you. I never wanted to send you to a bunker or…"

"Terminate, yeah I get it. Thanks General. I'm sure I'll be a pain in your ass again eventually." Chuck couldn't resist one last quip for old times' sake.

Beckman let out a rare smile and responded, "Nothing would surprise me anymore."

When Beckman terminated, Casey turned to face Chuck. "We did good work here Bartowski, you should be proud of yourself. I'm sure we will meet again, until then, be safe."

Chuck reached out to shake his hand and Casey accepted.

"Thanks for saving me, at least once a week. Goodbye John. If you ever need to get in contact with me, leave a message with my sister or Devon."

Casey grunted in approval as Chuck left the apartment.

* * *

**Burbank Buy More**

**January 20, 2008**

**12:01 PM Sunday**

"I still can't believe you are leaving little brother." Ellie said with a few tears making their way down her cheek.

"I'm sorry it is so sudden, I applied a while ago and didn't expect to be accepted. I didn't even think it was in the realm of possibilities so I didn't bother getting your hopes up."

"But on the east coast…so far away…" Ellie added with tears freely flowing.

"I know, sis." Chuck said sadly.

"Call me when you get your new contact information."

"I will. Look part of the job…I won't be able to answer my phone when I am working. Just the way the rules work. I'll get back to you when I can, but it won't be too often I am afraid."

"Okay, it will be hard, but I understand. I'm proud of you. Aces Charles, you're Aces." Ellie said while crushing Chuck in a MamaEllie hug.

"You're gonna be a spy, Chuckster! _AWESOME!_" Devon boomed from behind the siblings.

"Just an analyst, Devon."

"Bartowski. Charrrrles Bartowski. Saving the world one piece of intel at a time. Has a nice ring to it, Chuckster."

Chuck laughed, realizing how much he would miss his, hopefully soon to be bro-in-law. His sister hasn't lived without him before. Even during her residency and going through college, she was always close enough to be considered having him around.

"I'll miss you both. I'm sorry I have to get going."

"Did you talk to Morgan yet?" Ellie asked, hopeful that she could dodge having to talk to him about it.

"Yeah, little buddy didn't take it too well." Chuck sighed audibly.

"Come on, Chuck, I'll take you to the airport. I have time before I have to sign in at work." Devon said hopeful, he had to talk to Chuck in private before he left for god knows how long.

"Okay, bye sis." Chuck hugged her again and headed out with a smaller suitcase with some clothes and a picture of Sarah, Ellie, Devon, Morgan, and him laughing and joking while playing a game on date night.

-X-

Devon pulled up to the terminal, freaking out the whole drive to the airport. "Listen Chuck…there is something important I wanted to ask you..."

"What is it Devon?" Chuck asked curiously, he's never seen Devon so nervous before. He's not quite sure what to make of it.

"Since your dad left and you are the only man in Ellie's family, I wanted to ask you if it was alright for me to propose to her."

"Yes! Of course it is alright. I would be honored to make calling you 'bro' official. You're already part of the family. I want to be there, but from what my boss was saying, I might not be able to get back out to Burbank until July at the very least. I'll know better in about 4 months. I would like to be there, but I understand if you can't wait for me."

"Thanks Chuck, I'll take care of her. I know we will both want you there."

"I know you will take care of her, see ya around Devon."

"Good luck in DC, Chuck."

* * *

If you are left confused by some things, which are for the most part intentional on my part - read on. Things will become more clear and answered. Have no fear, Sarah will return. Charah lovers, you'll be waiting a long time.

R&R


	2. Chuck vs the Color Red

Thanks for all the reviews. Hopefully I won't disappoint. Also, hopefully I didn't fail at time zones. Feel free to correct me if I did. I'll be continuing to use mythological figures throughout the story, most will be Greek but a few will be Norse. I do not own Chuck.

Bold + Italics = flashback.

Enjoy.

Chapter 2 – Chuck vs the Color Red

* * *

**Langley, Virginia **

**August 6****, 2008**

**5:22 PM Wednesday**

Graham entered his office after a meeting with Beckman, slightly worried. _Today is the day of hopefully, Agent Bartowski's red test._ He is still not sure if Chuck will be able to complete his mission. If he fails, everything that Graham has worked for with the human Intersect will be a failure and the NSA will have the upper hand. Their attempt to get the beta Intersect online was a disaster. Fulcrum was able to blackmail a scientist into uploading a Trojan into the Cipher. Four NSA agent lives were lost that day, almost 3 months ago by now he mused. Chuck's red test was designed and tailored by Graham himself. The goal was to get Chuck over the worst of his possible kills, make him feel the brunt of the emotional pain of taking a life after his first death kill stroke.

Graham hoped to either numb Chuck's emotions or get him used to the idea of taking a life. Of course both could backfire if he failed to eliminate his target. If that became the case Graham would be forced to either terminate or throw Chuck into a bunker. His superiors and Beckman who still followed his progress, would accept nothing less. The red test was designed to push his boundaries and what he would be horrified to do. This red test was on a former CIA analyst who sold intel to Fulcrum and other organizations, along with foreign governments.

_I staked way too much for him to fail me now. _Graham thought bitterly. _Not to mention everyone else, too many people are depending on the nerd's success. Yes. Still a nerd in an agent's body. I tried to get the nerd out of the agent, but that ended up being impossible. Worse mistake I've made in my whole career. Re-introducing Chuck Bartowski to super nerd, Lazlo. God damnit. Now that Lazlo is back on his meds, Chuck looks at him like his very own personal Q. _Graham thought back to a few months ago, after Chuck completed basic training when he reunited the duo.

"_**Well Chuck, I'm sure you remember Lazlo." Director Graham said to Chuck, clearly not too happy about reuniting the evil genius and an aspiring agent-genius. "He is back on his meds." Graham looked back to Chuck who was standing beside him in his standard, cliché, agent uniform – Black suit. Black Shoes. Black sunglasses. **_

_**Chuck wasn't quite too sure how to react and made a slight wave as the door opened revealing Lazlo in his very own lab with circuit panels, soldering tools. **_

"_**Hey, Chuck. I'm sorry about trying to kill you and your friends, not to mention all those people. Hey are you still dating that hot blond?" Lazlo asked excitedly, having not seen any females, besides the old nurse with the needles since he was recaptured, which to be quite honest he wasn't sure if it was a he or a she. **_

"_**Uhhh…no." Chuck replied, clearly not wanting to discuss it. **_

"_**Oh that's too bad! Now, I assume you are here about my Intersect hypothesis, sir?" **_

"_**Yes. Get on with it Lazlo." Graham replied impatiently.**_

"_**Fine, fine. **_**Excuse**_** me for trying to talk to **_**someone**_** else who has seen the outside world on a regular basis." Lazlo said sarcastically. **_

_**Graham let out a very Casey-like growl in response.**_

"_**Alright. As I mentioned to you before. I believe it is possible to encode languages, manuals, and things like maps. Stuff you would be able to read, into the Intersect and have the host recall the information…I'm sure eventually it will be possible to do more advanced things like martial arts, bullet trajectory calculations, and stuff like that. For the foreseeable future, I can guarantee languages, maps, and manuals. I can have a test put together in a few weeks with your permission, sir…."**_

He was brought out of his musings by his phone ringing. _Right on time Bartowski. _

"Graham, secure."

"Bartowski, in public area."

_Out with it Bartowski…! _"…Status?"

Chuck sighed over the phone. "It is done, sir." Chuck replied, voice filled with emotion and obviously affected.

"Return to home base, you did good son." Graham replied while watching the surveillance video from the test.

"Bartowski, out."

* * *

**Madrid, Spain**

**August 6, 2008**

**10:54 PM Wednesday Local Time (EST +6?)**

Chuck followed his target down the street from the proper distance he was taught. He blended in with the rest of the people bundled up in jackets. It was a cold night, but that wasn't on his mind. All he cared about was accomplishing his objective so he could return to base and grieve for what part of himself he would lose.

His target left the side walk and headed down to the stairs leading to the Madrid Metro Subway. There were still many commuters and drunks heading back from the downtown and business areas to their homes. Chuck's target remained unaware of him as he followed him onto the train, a few doors back. Chuck quickly moved through the subway to get close and make sure he wouldn't lose his prey. _Good thing this guy isn't paying attention to the people around him, definitely not an agent. I must look like a drug addict with, with how freaked out I must look. Come on. Get a hold of yourself Bartowski. If you don't do this, you won't be able to see Ellie ever again. Don't do that to her. _Chuck forced his hands to stop shaking from within the jacket pockets he had stuffed them into.

After about 20 minutes the subway pulled up to the first stop in Fuenlabrada, a submetropolitan area of Madrid. Chuck followed his target out of the car and up the stairs onto the street. They were reaching the target destination designated for the kill. Chuck moved silently after his target, sure that he had not been noticed before the subway, carefully scanning the crowds for anything out of place as he stalked onwards.

His target walked off to his street and Chuck sped up his pace while remaining silent and sticking to the shadows. The street wasn't well lit; Chuck was in nearly full black with leather gloves on and was nearly impossible to notice sneaking up. _Come on Chuck, this is just like Call of Duty. Just think of him as pixels. Traitorous pixels. You can do this buddy. _Chuck's subconscious quickly took on the voice of Casey as he continued to psych himself up. _Do it moron. Stop with all the lady feelings._ He quickly and silently pulled out a knife from his jacket. Once he approached he lunged forward and cupped the target's mouth and nose, preventing him from making any noise, just as his trainer taught him. Chuck severed his carotid artery in his neck, causing him to quickly bleed out. Chuck rummaged through the man's pockets and took the money and credit cards out of his wallet while managing to hold back the bile rising in his throat.

Graham had given him all the details needed. Chuck found it odd that he had everything he needed to kill the man, except his name. He saw his face as he lowered him to the ground and didn't flash or recognize him. He was told he leaked information to Fulcrum and foreign governments and had run, dropping off the grid, before the CIA could find him again until recently. The information he had given over caused the deaths of at least ten CIA agents that they know of, as well as a few NSA and FBI agents. He was horrified at what he had done - the first life he has taken. He watched the man's life fade from his eyes as he bent down to close his eyelids. He walked away towards the car the CIA provided, an old not flashy car.

_Graham would not approve of it closing his eyes and taking a second to look at his face. Well too bad, fuck him._ He was told this is his red test, if he passes; he becomes an agent of the CIA. If he fails, well, there are only so many creative ways to tell him he is going to be in a bunker for the rest of his life or terminated. _Kill or be killed. Kill or allow others to be killed, no second chances. Protégé or not. _

Chuck pulled out his phone as he drove back towards the Madrid Barajas Airport.

Before Chuck could address Graham, as was protocol, Graham spoke up, "Graham, secure."

Chuck was momentarily surprised, although he mused; _it would make sense for him to be anxious to see how his protégé did on this test of his. He has staked a lot, his reputation and possible drastic funding increase for the CIA by handing over the Beta Intersect to the NSA, of course if I succeed, he'll gain funding and I'll make him look good. At the same time, Graham has become sort of a father figure. Who would have thought? Chuck Bartowski – unresolved daddy issues. Anyone? Nahhh. Oh! Mememe. _Chuck quipped to himself. "Bartowski, in public area." _No one said I couldn't mess with the head of the CIA's head for fun though. I should deserve a little fun in my life after all. _

"How is your car not secure! Status?" Graham asked impatiently while looking at the GPS in the car moving down the streets of Madrid.

Chuck sighed. "It is done, sir." Chuck said, voice filled with emotion while remembering looking down at the last bit of light faded from his target's eyes.

"Return to home base, you did good son." Graham replied, in a what Chuck assumed was a proud voice.

_On second thought, that could have been just excitement at the incoming dollars making their way into the CIA coffers. _"Bartowski, out."

-X-

Chuck had been in the air for over an hour now, on a CIA jet, heading back to Langley after completing his red test. Chuck thought he might feel proud that he will soon be considered a full agent, but he couldn't an image of a horrified Ellie out of his mind. He sighed and tried to meld with the leather chair he was sitting in.

When he closed his eyes all he saw were the lifeless brown eyes of the person he killed, seeing a little part of himself die reflected in them. Chuck quickly got up and ran down the isle of the small corporate jet to the bathroom and promptly threw up into the toilet. He stayed on the floor for a couple of hours, long ago starting to dry heave.

* * *

**Undisclosed CIA Training Facility**

**February 25****, 2008**

**10:22 AM Monday**

"GET UP CHARLES! THIS IS PATHETIC!" CIA Agent and handpicked trainer for one Charles Irving Bartowski yelled at her charge as he failed to parry a kick and crashed down to the Dojo's ground. She continued to pace around the form of Chuck on the ground.

Chuck had been at the facility for just over a month. The first few weeks were mainly to get him into better shape. He's still not where he needs to be, but at least he can spar for a few hours without passing out from exhaustion and Alex insulting his manhood about not having enough stamina.

"Pleaaaase I know you enjoy knocking the wind out of me, Alex." Chuck quipped while out of breath.

Alex Forest paused a second to put on a show of actually considering before answering. "I do not." Then grunted "What did I say about using my first name?"

"Riiight." Chuck responded in amusement as he attempted to trip her as he got back on his feet. Chuck found himself liking CIA Agent Alex Forest, not in a romantic way, but because she reminded him so much of his friend and former teammate John Casey. The two kept in contact after he went off to train; Casey left his private line with Ellie for him. Graham personally saw to it that Chuck would be able to make a few calls out of the base once a week. He allowed him to call his sister and her fiancé (She accepted of course.) and John Casey. Casey seemed to be opening up more now that he found himself not having to be the one to terminate Chuck. Graham had told Chuck he thought making a few calls might help him get through his isolation. Of course he was not allowed to mention anything about his training to his sister or Devon, but he was allowed to speak about his basic spy training with Casey, including hand to hand combat and firearms. Chuck's performance has been exceeding his instructor's expectations so Graham felt it was working and saw no need to revoke it. At least that is what he told Chuck when he asked and threatened to revoke it if his performance slipped.

Forest jumped over Chuck's leg meant to trip and attempt to kick him as he was rising off the floor. Chuck rolled to the side and quickly stood back up. "Kicking someone when they are still down? Tsk tsk." Chuck mocked.

"Pff…you tried to trip me!" Forest exclaimed with her eyes dancing with amusement.

"I suppose I did." Chuck replied smugly as they began their dance again. Chuck was learning quick, learning to anticipate her actions. He started to pay better attention to her muscles tensing before she would act. Another thing in common with Casey, they are both impatient. Chuck didn't have to wait long to see Forest's left leg twitch as she lunged forward, intending to kick out with her right leg. While Chuck was improving quite rapidly, there was no way he would be up to Forest's level in such a short time. As such, he found himself quickly on his ass again.

_Clap, clap_

"Doing better, Bartowski." The voice of Graham rang out in the Dojo.

Chuck turned to look at him as he got up, only to notice a feminine boot making its way towards his groin at the last second and caught it while twisting it forcefully, making Forest flip on her side. Chuck rushed forward and jumped down with a knee leading, knowing she would roll away in time. As they were attacking each other and deflecting, Chuck asked Graham, "I'm starting to notice a trend, Graham, I notice you always seem to show up when Alex is training me in hand to hand combat."

"What can I say? I enjoy Forest kicking your ass." Graham said smugly.

"This is payback for my quips and sarcasm from when I was an asset, isn't it?"

"You're point?"

_Oopf!_ Chuck failed to parry a fist to his abdomen and staggered back a few feet. Chuck gritted out, "I expect you to be here when I am the one kicking her ass, Director." As Chuck went on the offensive again.

"That'd be the day." Forest responded.

"And that will be payback for Forest being such a pain in my ass too." Graham replied with a chuckle. "I get to kill two birds with one stone, why pass up the opportunity? I've even got the tapes to replay them for when I am feeling down on a rainy day."

* * *

**Codename Olympus: somewhere in the former Soviet Bloc**

**May 12****, 2011**

**5:43 AM Thursday**

_Chirp, chirp_

Chuck groaned and rolled over in his bed, snagging his cell phone. Chuck smirked when his partner started groaning and all he could see was blond hair sticking out from the sheets. _She's definitely not a morning person._

"Prometheus here, Althea is with me." Chuck answered.

"Zeus, secure. I've got a new mission that you might have a personal interest is in. However, you might receive some heat from up top for this."

"Why?"

"It involves one of the persons you included as part of your deal to join the CIA. In this case, I'm holding up my end of the deal."

Chuck had a quick flashback to their talk on the beach before he joined the CIA. "_**In addition to allowing me to tell my sister about my analyst position. I want to know whenever one of the following people gets in serious trouble: John Casey, Sarah Walker, Carina Hansen, Ilsa Tricovich, Ellie, Devon, or Morgan." **_

"_**Why Sarah Walker?"**_

"_**I still owe her for saving my life, by my count I am behind by at least 9 times. I don't wish her any harm, but I'd rather not see her again."**_

"_**Why should I even allow you to tell your sister? That is against company policy."**_

"_**You want to give me a cause to believe in and fight for, but I won't sacrifice my sister's happiness for it. Things are going well for her, both professionally and privately. This would set her back in both. There's no reason the Director of the CIA can't overlook that rule once. Don't think I am so naïve, Graham, I know you are doing this for ulterior motives. It doesn't matter if I tell my sister I work for the CIA as an analyst or if you have to agree to watch out for those individuals, as long as you get results. I'll perform better knowing my sister is happy and safe, same goes for the rest of those, relatively speaking. As for the people, they are either family or extended family by relation to someone that is family, or I owe them for saving my life. I don't like being in debt to someone. Besides, both Sarah and John know I am the Intersect."**_

"_**Fine."**_

Chuck was pulled out of his flashback by his partner groaning about the noise. "Who?"

"John Casey."

"Where?"

"Mountains of western Pakistan. This should be a military operation, but in this case, I don't give a flying fuck. He knows about the Intersect and everyone talks eventually. According to our agent infiltrating the Ring, a man named Daniel Shaw had Casey's unit ambushed by some Taliban fighters in exchange for some brand new weapons and equipment. A body was accounted for every man in Casey's team with the exception of Casey, James Wilson, and a man named Miles. Bring him home by any means necessary, Prometheus."

"Yes dad." Chuck replied sarcastically.

Chuck started to poke his partner to get her awake.

"Muurrrhhhhh"

"Wake up. We've got an old friend to bring home." Chuck replied with an evil grin as he started tickling her. It still amazed him that a CIA agent could be ticklish.

"FINE I'M UP, JESUS!" Althea exclaimed.

Chuck got out of bed and threw on a pair of boxers and walked to his laptop in a separate room to start making arrangements for the upcoming op. He made sure to lock the door before sitting down. As he sat down, a dossier with encoded images containing relevant information was received by secure link by Graham containing possible locations and other data. After a few minutes of blankly staring at images, Chuck looked at the screen again. A message was written across the screen.

_**Operation Recover Deimos**_

Chuck forced a flash on the name Deimos.

_Service records._

_Accommodations._

_Major recorded kills, mostly located in Eastern Europe and Russia._

_Known aliases: John Casey, Alex Cobern, Mikhail Vasilevich, Nikolai Morozov_

_Current alias: Colonel John Casey, USMC_

_Known lovers: Ilsa Tricovich – DGSE (General Directorate of External Security), Kathleen McHugh - civillian, Alex Forest – CIA, Carina Hansen – CIA/Former DEA. _

_Children: Alex McHugh, age 22, daughter of Kathleen McHugh_

_Current and past partners outside of NSA: __András __Bakó_, _Prometheus, Althea, Helen, Ismene, Charles Carmichael, Carina Miller, Sarah Walker, Jill Roberts, and Alex Forest._

_CIA assigned name by Zeus: Deimos_

Chuck's flash ended as the data was exhausted. _Well I already knew most of that. _Chuck laughed as he remembered Christmas this past year at Casa Woodcomb. Morgan and Alex together as a couple. He couldn't remember a more amusing sight than Casey fuming at the bearded fellow kissing Alex.

He refocused, pushing those good memories away and forced a flash on Operation Recover Deimos.

_Images of region Casey's team was operating in._

_Images of the bodies of Casey's team. _

_Images of Miles. _

_Images of suspected Taliban bases of operation. CIA provided images of the entrance to the cave where Casey was suspected to be held. _

_Mission objectives: Terminate Miles and those that took Colonel Casey. Track down and find Daniel Shaw. Current alias: unknown. Find and rescue Colonel Casey, alive. Terminate as last resort if rescue is impossible. _

_Intel largely submitted by Helen. _

Chuck rubbed his eyes and sighed. _I'm coming for you old friend. _He got up from his chair and unlocked the door. "Set up a HALO drop for the Pakistan border region for as soon as possible. CIA plane only, we're going against the military and Beckman with this mission."

Althea sat down and began typing away at her laptop, organizing the HALO request and their necessary equipment. "How reliable is the intel?"

"Helen provided the info, we can trust her. The job is the one thing she is good at." Chuck replied simply.

Althea nodded in agreement and got back to work.

* * *

Until next time, please leave a review.


	3. Chuck vs Pakistan

It would seem that the Unit is making an appearance even in this fic. I do happen to be re-watching the show at the moment to be fair. I also blame Dark Blue for Alex and Jill making appearances. I was going to get out the Lady Feelings chapter before this but apparently I suck at writing about dresses and weddings, having since hit a little writer's block. As for reviews, thanks again and just something to be aware of: I do dig through reviews to see what people want or suggest. As long as it fits with where I want to take it, I just might include it.

Someone did get pretty close to who Althea is in the reviews. I did actually have it pretty obvious before but I expanded the section when I wrote it yesterday. I'm still deciding if I want it to be who I originally thought it would be. Sorry! I love Wikipedia. I don't own Chuck.

I noticed I made a mistake in the last chapter, Chuck and Althea will not be HALO jumping but HAHO jumping. (High Altitude-High Opening, instead of Low Opening.) I've already gotten distracted and forgotten at least five times.

Chapter 3 – Chuck vs Pakistan

* * *

**180 km Northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan **

**May 3, 2011**

**10:45 AM Tuesday**

Casey's team was currently making their way through Afghanistan in a covert attempt to snatch and grab a high-level Taliban leader on a Pave Hawk. The mission came straight from Beckman, who normally wouldn't interfere with USMC operations, but the intel came from the NSA and since Beckman transferred him back to his old team, he didn't even think twice about organizing the mission. The group of six Force Recon Marines would be meeting up with a group of Marines to acquire their Humvee in the mountains near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Casey heard the pilot's voice over his headset, "We're about to land." The Marines quickly scanned the area on approach, seeing nothing out of usual. Their LZ was a medium sized outpost, meant to stop the enemy from using vehicles getting through the pass. There was a cluster of about seven Humvees in the center area of the outpost. The outpost was stationed with about a company of US Army personnel. There were a few concrete built towers and machine gun nests scattered at strategic points. There would be a few UAVs above them in the air once they left out in their Humvees. They would have to get through the pass, which is still secured for about 50 km by NATO forces.

The unit was all business, not answered many questions and just making their way to the Humvees. Casey identified himself to a captain in charge and was escorted to their vehicles which were already stocked with everything they would need. Assault rifles, sniper rifles, ammo, water and food, and anything else they could think of. The Marines quickly inspected everything, leaving nothing to chance. Everything was up to their standards and they set out. After about an hour and a half they made it to their location to ditch the Humvees. They couldn't be flown in for fear of stinger missiles hitting their chopper. So that also ruled out being flown out. They would have to take their objective and return to the Humvees and make their way back to the outpost for evac. They grabbed their equipment and headed out through the pass.

* * *

As it became dusk, the team arrived near their location. Casey pulled out a thermal scoped, suppressed TAC-50 sniper rifle. He counted ten hostiles outside the target cave and made it known to the rest of his unit with hand signals. The cave was in the foothills of a mountain, with the peak blocking the moonlight. The team had already pulled on their night vision gear when the sun went below the horizon. He motioned for his second in command, First Lieutenant James Wilson, to take up the sniper position. The rest of the unit made sure to have their comms active and checked their weapons. Casey nodded and motioned for the rest follow him in. They went around the outskirts, sticking to the shadows as best as possible, quiet as death. They were all wearing full black with their faces painted black.

Casey moved up to the first sentry and promptly clamped a hand over the man's mouth and snapped his neck. Another Marine took the next sentry, Casey only saw a hand reach out with a knife around the man's body and stab him in the heart, while the other clamped around the man's mouth. The Marine nodded to Casey after easing the body to the ground and the rest moved up towards the cave entrance. There were a few more sentries on the opposite side of the cave, Casey whispered, amplified by the mics, for Wilson to take out the other two sentries. He then split up the remaining men with him, taking Miles with him. The rest were sent after a group of three men talking quietly amongst each other.

Wilson quietly responded, "Lights out." As the two Taliban were taken out within a few seconds of each other.

Casey moved forward, towards a group of two men. Second Lieutenant Miles followed Casey. As they approached the two men, Casey broke off towards the left man while Miles took the right. Casey walked up to the man and cupped the man's mouth while sliding a knife through the man's kidney. Miles followed suit and did the same. The other group reported their targets were dead. Casey left the sniper outside to keep watch while they went in for their target. He grunted in approval _10 less extremists, not bad. Worth the trip out here. _

The group of five entered the cave silently. The cave didn't have any light for about a km inside. Once they reached the area, they flipped their night vision off and entered a large chamber. Casey looked around and noticed a door leading deeper into the cave. It wasn't locked; he pulled out some optics and managed to fit the cable through a gap between the door and the rock face of the walls.

Casey was only able to see a small room with another passageway off to the right. He made a few signals with his hands and Miles opened the door. Once they got into the room, Miles followed Casey more closely and lunged and knocked Casey down with the butt of his rifle before the rest of the Marines came in, by the time they noticed, the room filled with Taliban. They killed everyone minus Miles and Casey, who was still on the ground groaning.

"What did you do Miles?" Casey asked with his voice dripping with venom. _I'm going to enjoy killing you, you traitorous piece of shit. _

"You saved my life once; the Ring doesn't want you dead. It worked out better this way for you. It was either this or we use your ex-fiancé and daughter to ensure your cooperation."

Another man entered the room, a white American. "You said you would be able to split Casey from the rest of his team!"

"It wasn't possible, sir."

"Keller." Casey growled.

"Been a long time, Alex." Keller said addressing Casey, as he pulled out a pistol and shot Miles. "He served his purpose. Besides, I told him I wanted the rest of your team to walk. He brought this on himself, now as for you; you'll be having an extended vacation in Pakistan with our friends here."

Casey didn't buy his bullshit. "So you use Islamic extremists now? Who do you work for?" Casey said dangerously. _Oh I am definitely going to enjoy killing you Keller. I'll introduce you to Vera, but only after I make you suffer first. These were good men. _

"The days of the Taliban supporting Al-Qaeda are nearing an end. The Ring feels helping them get rid of them is in the best interest for us. The Taliban was only far eager to appease their new weapons suppliers, so they did it for us as a favor."

"And what do you get out of it?"

"The Ring wants the Intersect, we know you have knowledge of the agent called Prometheus."

"How did you convince them to allow us to just kill ten of their men?"

"They were expendable. They were villagers given guns, without training and fed a few lines about serving Allah, they weren't even true Taliban. Where I am taking you, now there will be true Taliban. I hope you enjoy walking, we have quite the hike ahead of us, Alex."

_Can't hurt to fish for information, Chuck will be coming for me. God help anyone in his way. _Casey smirked as he was forcibly stood up and bound with zip ties and rope. "So how did you leak the false intel?"

"We have a man placed highly in the NSA; in fact you might have come across him before. I suppose it doesn't matter, you won't survive this. All we had to do was promise him Sarah Walker.

_I would pay to see Chuck hear you see that to him, even if he doesn't care about her like _that _anymore. Damn, Chuck might beat me to kill this bastard._

* * *

First Lieutenant James Wilson watched as a group of Taliban and an American he didn't recognize, took Casey out through the cave about an hour later. Casey was thrown over a mule, unconscious. Wilson quickly ran into the cave after everyone left and found the dead Marines. He grabbed some extra ammunition and provisions – water and MREs. He quickly jogged out of the cave and made his way to catch up with the convoy at a distance. Colonel Casey was the only one with a Satellite phone, since his broke during a fight with a man trying to sneak up to him while he was providing over watch for the team inside the cave. He decided trying to make his way back to the Humvee would cause him to lose their trail before he could get back after calling in support. So after he caught back up with the convoy, keeping them in sight, he walked after the unconscious form of a man who has saved him more times than he could count.

* * *

**Undisclosed CIA Training Facility**

**January 21, 2008**

**7:58 AM Monday**

An angry instructor burst through Chuck's new CIA provided home - a single room, smaller than a college dorm room. "WAKE UP MAGGOT."

Chuck snapped up in bed, "What the fu…"

"OUT OF BED, THROW ON SOME RUNNING CLOTHES."

Chuck groaned and quickly put on some sweat pants and a tee-shirt, while the Agent stayed in the room.

_This lazy, useless nerd would probably fall back asleep if I left the room. Eh, nothing I haven't seen before. _She growled at how slow he was tying his shoes. "We should have been out of here a minute ago!"

Chuck just tiredly nodded and followed her out the door.

"So how much are we running?"

"So you caught that eh, I thought you might be too stupid to figure that from what I said."

"I see, a real people person. So what should I call you?"

"Forest. Nothing else." She replied, daring him to test her.

"Did you just make that name up on the spot?" Chuck asked amused.

"What's wrong with it?" She asked as she stopped to turn at him, while glaring, once again daring him.

_She kind of reminds me of a female version of Casey. _Chuck mused. "Oh uh, nothing!"

She added one more glare for affect and took off out the door, Chuck followed as they began running. After a few minutes she asked, "So how much do you usually run?"

"Uh…on a television screen or…OW! WHAT THE HELL!" Chuck exclaimed as he got slapped upside the back of his head. He was about to quip but held his tongue when he noticed her hold her hand up in a threatening gesture again. "Fine, fine. Maybe a whole mile in a week."

"We'll have to fix that. Have a girlfriend?"

"No…why?"

"I see why! Your stamina must be an embarrassment!"

"…Is your real name Casey?"

Forest stopped in her tracks, "What?"

"Nothing, nevermind." Chuck realizing what he just said, took off in a run down the sidewalk.

_That was odd. He couldn't have meant John Casey. I haven't seen that man in quite a while, it must have been at least four years by now since that mission in Moscow…_Forest thought as she ran to catch up with her charge. "So. Expect to run every morning, you'll be waking up earlier every time I increase the distance we run. The biggest hurdle will be getting your initial distance increased to 5 miles, and then it should be easier to steadily increase it over the next few weeks to a month after that."

"Okay." Chuck replied simply, surprising Forest, almost already used to him being a smartass.

"What no quips? No sarcasm?"

"Nope."

_Graham warned me about your personality._

"It needs to be done. I didn't expect being a spy to come easy." Chuck replied with determination. "I'll do what I need to do, once it is physically possible that is. I'm not delusional, Forest. I am well aware of my limitations at this point."

Forest grunted as they passed the one mile mark.

* * *

**Swat Region – Northwest Pakistan – 234 km Northwest of Mingaora**

**May 12, 2011**

**2:15 PM Thursday**

Prometheus and Althea arranged transportation to Pakistan in a business class Legacy 600 jet with CIA pilots. They made it to their destination in about as seven and a half hours. Their LZ is located close to the suspected base holding Casey in the mountains of the northwest area of the Swat region in northwest Pakistan. Althea, never one to be patient was getting anxious, which Chuck took notice of.

"Are you sure about this? You have done this before right?" Althea yelled at Prometheus as they finished getting on their parachutes, their oxygen masks and helmets already being in place a half hour before to get the nitrogen flushed from their system. Althea made sure she had her iphone tucked away safely. Chuck's friend, known as Q to her, created an application for the iphone to interpret homing beacons, much like the one on their package containing extra ammunition and weapons they are unable to take with them during a HAHO drop. Both agents had the standard HAHO drop equipment. Both were fitting out with gloves, military quality free-fall boots, goggles and their jump oxygen, plus a few other items.

_She is way too nervous or worried about this mission. _"Ehhh 60-40 and no, I have not." Chuck smiled to himself while she was looking away from him.

"What do you mean SIXTY-FORTY?" she yelled into her mask.

"I saw it on TV, in the Unit. You really need to watch more TV, Althea." Chuck teased his partner.

"We are going to HAHO jump out of a Legacy 600 BUSINESS JET, from 35000 ft. If I might add, 35000 ft is near maximum altitude for this aircraft too! All based off a fucking TV SHOW?" Althea yelled in exasperation.

"Yeah. Pretty much." Chuck continued while trying to calm her down, in a matter of speaking.

Althea sighed and blew a stray strand of hair sticking out from her helmet.

"Well…in theory it should work. Forest also mentioned this was doable when we were doing other types of jumps during training."

"That's very reassuring. Did you ever figure she might want you killed for the agony of listening to you piss and moan through basic training?" She replied sarcastically.

"No. She's a big softy, just like Casey. All bark and no bite."

"I'll make sure to tell her you said that when I see her back in Prague."

_Chuck's eyes narrowed playfully. _"You wouldn't dare!"

"Would I?" she said amidst an amused glare, realizing what he was doing. _Ever the perceptive one, Chuck._

"Fair point. Oh more like 90-10. Special Forces do it all the time, just not sure about the business jet aspect. I did it out of a C-130 during training with Forest." Chuck conceded with a grin.

Althea shot him a death glare, making sure he noticed, causing him to laugh.

The co-pilot exited the cockpit and said to the duo while strapping on his own helmet and parachute, just in case. "We're nearing the target drop site. The package will be last; we will deploy it to anticipate where you land via HALO. You could have quite the hike on your hands. Good luck." The co-pilot proceeded to make sure things were in order before they opened the hatch.

Both Chuck and Althea went through a quick mental checklist, patting down their bodies making sure they have what they need. _Altimeter. _Check. _Canteen. _Check. _Backup compass. _Check. _CIA enhanced satellite iphone_. Check _Fake identification for return. _Check. _Knife. _Check. _Disasembled MP-5 and silencer. _Check. _M9 and silencer. _Check. _Backup GPS. _Check. _MREs. _Check. _Nightvision_. Check.

After Chuck was confident he had what he needed on him, he checked the parachute on their package. "Everything is in order. We'll have a long trek ahead of us and hopefully the package lands close enough to our target landing zone. I'll go first and provide navigation through GPS, just stay above and follow me down."

"Roger" Althea acknowledged.

The co-pilot announced they were nearing the jump coordinates and Prometheus and Althea went to the door. Chuck checked Althea's parachute quickly and she checked his. They grabbed handles by the door for grip as Chuck opened the door, causing the cool mountain air to rush into the cabin throwing anything loose around.

The shout of the co-pilot could be heard and all the noise, minus the wind rushing past his face which disappeared as Prometheus leapt forward into a freefall from the plane. Before he pulled his chute, he allowed himself to flashback to his second conversation with Graham before leaving for Pakistan.

"_**Casey has been MIA for about 9 days, why hasn't Beckman done anything?" Chuck asked bitterly.**_

"_**She is covering her ass, the NSA acted upon faulty intel that was designed to capture Casey. This is an embarrassment for her and the NSA. She is trying to cover up her ass, but don't worry son, I won't let that happen." Graham said with a chuckle.**_

_**Chuck laughed in spite of the situation, "If there is one thing I have learned even better since I joined the CIA, it is I can always count on the CIA to burn the NSA when the opportunity arises. Of course same goes for the NSA, but it seems we get them more often. I'm going to bring him home, Art. I want to see Beckman's face when she finds out we rescued her guy. Please get me a picture of it when you tell her or better yet, video is preferred. I'm sure Casey will want to see it too."**_

"_**I'll make sure of it. Now there is one more matter we need to discuss. This is highly classified, even above your clearance, but this is a judgment call I am authorized to make. We have a loyal group of Taliban who have been helping the CIA SAD team in the Afghanistan War. They will provide you with transportation to your evac site."**_

"_**You've got to be shitting me."**_

"_**No. We'll have a CIA helicopter and plane on standby. Don't expect any further assistance; you're on your own. Give them hell."**_

"_**Prometheus out."**_

After about 25 seconds at roughly 7300 m, Chuck gave the go ahead to pull their chutes. _Come on come, don't fail! Chuck thought, maybe the Unit wasn't a good example, Brown's chute didn't open when they did this. Uh oh…_

Althea's voice suddenly broke Chuck out of his thoughts and said, "Chute is away, no problems so far."

Chuck sucked in more air through the oxygen mask they attached on the plane, having not realized he was holding his breath. "We're readjusting." Chuck checked his position and altitude and adjusted his heading to align the pair to their drop zone. "I see why the Captain loves skydiving! What a rush!" Chuck exclaimed in a voice eerily similar to the good Captain Awesome.

"Sure, until you jump and your parachute gets stuck."

"When did you become so cynical?"

Chuck scanned the sky and saw their package was released on what appeared to be, on target. After a few minutes, Chuck touched the ground in an open area. Chuck touched down first and quickly ditched his parachute and flight gear. Althea landed a few meters from him and did the same. They quickly pulled out their M9s and ran towards some cover, since they were still out in the open. Chuck took his bearings by looking around. There was few vegetation and no trees within the immediate area, just rocks and more foothills of more mountains. They had a straight shot to their destination, they would be able to jog most of the way and make it there just after nightfall.

"Awesome, eh?"

Althea just sighed trying to not encourage him and asked, "Where is the package? It should be down by now."

Chuck pulled out his iphone and loaded up the application to lock onto the signal. "A few km in the direction we need to head." Chuck said as he repocketed the phone and pulled out the bag containing his MP-5. Althea was already working on hers, they both assembled them quickly and headed out.

* * *

"I'll cover you from up here." Althea said to Chuck and he agreed, he could carry more back. He dropped the bag containing water and other supplies. He grabbed a few extra mags for his M9 and MP-5 and sprinted down the hill after checking the immediate area. The package was a crate containing an unassembled M24A3 sniper rifle and an unassembled HK416 which was below their position and he had to go down a hillside with nothing but loose rocks. Getting back up would not be fun. She had her MP-5, aiming down the iron sights, looking around the small valley.

Chuck reached the package and cut loose the parachute. He pulled out the box containing the M24A3 and got to work, having it completely assembled he pulled out the HK416 and assembled it too. He was done with both within a couple minutes and put them over his back. He grabbed one of the remaining two bags and made his way up back up the hill.

Once Chuck got back to the top with Althea, he slashed his MP-5 to the large hiking bag and gave Althea the sniper rifle and kept the assault rifle for himself. He quickly made his way back down and returned with the other bag and handed it to her. She slung the rifle after closing the scope caps and into the sniper rifle bag and shouldered her hiking bag. She pulled out her MP-5 and nodded to Chuck that she was ready.

_I hope we will be in time, John. We'll be there soon. _Chuck thought to himself as he headed out with his assault rifle laying across his chest, propped up by his left forearm and breaking into a jog with Althea close behind.

* * *

There will be more answers next chapter, perhaps more questions? Who are Althea, Helen, and Ismene? Will Chuck be in time? What happened to Sarah? Not sure when the next chapter will be out. Please leave a review! They help with motivation you know. The next chapter will include some more training and the rescue mission. I might even clear up some of the questions.


	4. Chuck vs the New Teammate

Thanks for all the reviews! As for this chapter, I answered a few questions but added in a few more questions this chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 4 – Chuck vs the New Teammate

* * *

**Langley, Virginia **

**January 3, 2011**

**7:50 AM Monday**

Chuck stepped off the elevator with a carton tray with 4 lattes and a bag of croissants. He walked down the long hallway, passing a few agents along the way. He smiled briefly as he passed them and a few analysts. Once he got to the door leading to the waiting room to the Director's office, he smiled at Graham's assistant. "Hey Emily, how's the married life going?"

"Depends, is that coffee for me?" she replied hopefully.

"Of course. Tell Graham I'm here?" Chuck replies giving her a croissant and latte while leaning on the wall, not wanting to sit in a chair.

"Sure. One second." She pressed the intercom and said, "Agent Bartowski is here, Director."

"Emily, what did I tell you about slipping up with his name in public?"

Her face paled and she apologized. Chuck just laughed at the expense of her discomfort.

"Come in here, both of you." Graham said after a few minutes.

As they both walked into Graham's office, Graham smirked and said, "I would reprimand you, but I figure if I tell your sister that it will be punishment enough for you, Emily."

"Yeah Alex can be a bit of a stickler with all those rules and protocols." Chuck replied fondly.

"Yeah no shit, she's a little bit of a bitch about it to be perfectly honest." Emily replied with a smug grin.

"You're a little early, Chuck." Graham added, "The briefing wasn't meant to be until 8:30."

"I couldn't sleep and finished my morning run. Thought we could catch up, I haven't been stateside in this area for a while." Chuck replied with a yawn.

"Are you sleeping alright?" Emily asked concerned.

"Best as can be expected for a field agent I imagine, I still have the occasional nightmare." Chuck replied. "I just haven't slept much since my red test." Chuck shrugged, obviously used to dealing with it.

Emily frowned and tried to change the subject, "How was the Woodcomb Christmas? Sorry Paul and I couldn't make it, we had to spend Christmas at his parents' house this year."

"Casey almost killed Morgan for kissing his daughter. I almost broke my cover trying to peal him off the bearded fellow. He did appreciate you getting Ilsa assigned to the team temporarily, Art." _I wonder what strings came attached with that._

"The French DGSE required the service of a few CIA agents to be loaned to them for a few months on an extended operation. We had no operations in need of French agents for the immediate future and Ilsa happened to be on leave. That's all it was." Graham tried to reason.

"Or you want Casey on my team." Chuck replied knowingly.

"I am not that transparent, Bartowski." Graham dared him to argue the point.

_Yes you are, everything is always about an advantage for the CIA. Not that I would complain about working with John again._

"Hey Graham, can you tell me when my sister will be back stateside? We haven't seen each other for a while, she couldn't make Christmas this year as you know. She didn't even call." Emily inquired sadly.

"She was in deep cover, no outside calls. You know better than that, it could put you or your husband in danger." Graham reprimanded.

"I know, I didn't think sitting behind a desk would be this difficult." She replied, missing her days of being a field agent.

"It's the life you chose; at least you got that choice." Chuck said while sending a glare in Graham's direction, which he just responded with a shrug.

"Time for you to man the phones, Emily."

"Thanks for the coffee, Chuck" She said as she opened the doors and then closed them to man her post. Even though Emily was an ex-field agent, she could still handle herself. She was the perfect assistant for Graham, someone able to protect him if the need arose. He also had her keep up with the same regiment from her active duty days, gun range twice a week and keeping in top shape. She also was able to stay in the loop with how her sister was doing, which was one of her main motivations for accepting the position. She didn't expect to have more of an extended family with Chuck and his group of friends and family. She even became close with Ellie, even though they were on opposite sides of the country. She figured it helped Ellie having some regular contact with someone in Chuck's life.

Chuck turned to take in the view of the outside world. It wasn't often these days that he could just relax and take it all in, what he was fighting for. Chuck started remembering the fantastic Christmas he had just had back home in Burbank, but was interrupted by Graham. "I thought I would give you a few minutes to let the news sink in, Chuck. You might want to sit down."

"What?" Chuck said unmoving from his spot at the window, he just adjusted to face Graham.

"It is about a new addition to your team. She will be reporting directly to me when I have her sent under deep cover. But she will be sharing intel and interacting with your team. She will be under your command when she is working directly with you. Her code name will be Helen. I'm sending her on assignment to infiltrate the Ring after this briefing is over with."

Chuck nodded in acknowledgement and smirked. _We could really use some more recent intel with the Ring. Hopefully she is good at infiltration. _"Have I met her?" Chuck asked curiously, Graham never broke news about a partner or team member like this before. _Unless it is…_

Graham pressed the response button on his intercom and Emily's voice came out, "Agent Walker is here."

"Oh. I see." Chuck said and looked back out the window. _This should be interesting; I suppose she also has the Inducement of enemy personnel part covered too. _Chuck remembered when he first got control of the Intersect data flashes and flashed on Sarah's file. She had a perfect string of successful seduction and assassination missions. The only failed assignment was her Burbank assignment. Chuck figured that was only because she left, no doubt she would be the one to kill him if the need arose. She was the last person outside his family that he trusted completely, up until he became a full spy. He mused that now there are a few spies among them that are considered family, primarily: Casey, Emily, Jill, Cole, Ilsa, Roan, and Forest, he was starting to warm up to Carina though. Even though he considered Graham a father figure, he didn't trust him at all. Roan and Forest had spent a lot of time training him, _Roan had his work cut out for him, that's for sure._ Chuck mused. Chuck had initially disliked Cole, but after he endured a torture for a few weeks without giving up anything about him or his team, he earned his trust. Chuck still felt in debt to the MI:6 agent.

A few seconds later the doors opened, Chuck saw a flash of black hair out of the corner of his eyes.

"Good to see you again, Director." Sarah said.

"Sit down, Walker." He replied gruffly, wonder how exactly this conversation would unfold.

Sarah turned to look at the other agent in the room. She didn't recognize him, granted he was facing away looking out the window. _I can't remember the last time a man didn't turn to look at me when I entered a room, odd. Maybe he is gay. _Sarah frowned and looked back at the Director.

"You have a new, permanent team assignment. This one isn't negotiable. There will be no repeat of you leaving for Larkin or another agent." The threat in his voice and his face was more than enough for Sarah to receive the message. Fuck this up and you'll have a burn notice placed on you.

"What is the assignment?" Sarah asked with interest.

"Have you heard of Prometheus, Althea, or Ismene?"

"I've heard a lot of rumors about Prometheus and Ismene for taking down Fulcrum, but barely anything on Althea. Should I have, sir?"

"They are your new teammates. You will still be reporting directly to me when in deep cover, otherwise, Prometheus is your superior. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. When do I meet them?"

"You know, it is rude not to introduce yourself, Prometheus." Graham said, enjoying himself.

"Does that apply if you've technically already met though?" Chuck quipped as he turned around and got a good look at her for the first time in quite a while. _Yeah I suppose Helen still fits for her._

Sarah's eyes widened in surprise. _No…how…why did this happen?_

"I'm sure you might have lots of questions of how I became an agent, if not, that's even better. Either way it can wait until later." Chuck replied, in his usual voice – not devoid of emotion, no bitterness, no added meaning, no hopefulness…just Chuck.

"Do I know the others?" Sarah asked, still in shock.

"In a matter of speaking, you know both." Chuck replied cryptically. "You'll meet one of our teammates on the flight to Europe; the other you will meet once you make it back to our base…Walker is coming back with us, Art?" Chuck asked realizing they hadn't gotten that far in the briefing. He could have told her who was on the flight back with them, but he felt in case something caused Sarah's cover to be blown and she was tortured for information, at least she might not give up their main aliases or identities.

Sarah noticed how friendly the Director and Chuck seemed to act around each other, she was actually slightly jealous. _We used to be that way before I fucked up and left Burbank, both of them._

"Yes, but she will be going directly back to an undercover mission, as I mentioned earlier. Your new assignment will be infiltrating the Ring, Walker. We need more reliable intel from people we can trust. Even with your past, I know you won't betray your country."

"Yes sir." Sarah replied with regret.

"You're both dismissed; this was mainly an introduction since you were both in town. Enjoy your flight." Graham said with his amusement evident.

Both agents left the room. Once outside, Chuck exchanged goodbye to his former trainer's sister. Sarah thought the exchange was overly friendly, maybe an ex or good friend.

"Did you drive yourself here?" Chuck inquired as they got on the elevator.

"Yes…that's all you've got? After all this time?"

"We're going to be stuck on a plane for over eight and a half hours, plus refueling. I'm sure it can wait until then."

_He's so distant now. I still can't believe he is working for the CIA, not to mention one of the two agents credited with taking down Fulcrum. It also seems Graham is hand picking his teammates for taking down the Ring and future organizations. I wonder how heartbroken I left him; he seemed to really be into me when I left. Good thing I left as soon as I did, if I hadn't…I don't even know what would have happened. I know I would have fallen for him, hard. It was too dangerous for both him and me. Hopefully he doesn't hate me._

_

* * *

_

**Private Hangar, Reagan National Airport**

**January 3, 2011**

**9:15 AM Monday**

The trio had taken off a little over an hour and a half ago. Introductions were awkward to say the least. Everyone had arrived separately to the private airstrip at Reagan National Airport. Chuck introduced Sarah to Jill Roberts, not saying who she really is. Sarah was rather pissed that he didn't trust her enough to not betray Jill. They hadn't met before, but Sarah still remembered Jill from Chuck's Stanford days. Both were visibly unhappy to see each other. Jill blaming Sarah for Chuck becoming a spy, still not happy how that turned out, while Sarah was a little jealous of them being close friends and maybe more and that she had lost Chuck's trust.

Chuck went to the cockpit after the airport staff closed the entrance to the plane, Sarah noticed that there were no pilots. She was even more surprised when Chuck began the startup sequence. She looked at Jill and she responded with a shrug. _…When did Chuck start flying jets? I suppose it makes sense if he actually is Prometheus. _Sarah sighed and sat down at the front of the plane and looked out the window as the plane took off down the runway and into the sky. She really wanted to talk to Chuck and see where his head was at, she spaced out thinking back to when she left.

_**Bryce had just shown up to her hotel after she didn't return his call the previous night. She didn't expect him, thinking it was Chuck, since she hadn't returned his calls after Bryce left the Buy More and they hadn't spoken since. However, she was surprised to see Bryce, she thought after she ignored his call that he would already have left. He managed to convince her to leave with him, she still felt **_**something **_**for him, and she felt she was getting too close to her asset. She knew if she stayed around, that she would fall for him, hard, which wouldn't help keep him safe. Bryce was able to play off those feelings, both her feelings for him and whatever she might feel for Chuck by claiming it was safer for him if she left. She was baffled that she admitted that to herself, considering Chuck and her had only shared one real kiss and the rest were all cover related. He was just too much unlike her, too much unlike a spy, but he was far from normal. She knew that was her main attraction to him. **_

_**She told Bryce to meet him to meet outside at her Porsche, in case anyone stopped by. She quickly packed a suitcase, nearly everything she had fit perfectly into the case, always ready to leave at a moment's notice. She left the few things owned by the CIA on her bed, including a few guns and clothes. Before she turned the handle to leave the apartment, she looked around her apartment and whispered, "Goodbye Chuck" to the empty apartment. She knew that Graham would be pissed she left her assignment, but ultimately if she said she left because she was becoming compromised, whether that was true or not, he would let it slide, at least she hoped. As she was making her way to the elevator, the last person she wanted to see at the moment stepped off – Chuck. **_

_**Chuck took in her deer in the headlights expression and her travel suitcase and small carry-on size bag and asked her, "I see you chose to leave, were you planning on even saying goodbye?"**_

_**Sarah, unable to speak, just nodded a no in response. **_**How did he even know I was choosing between leaving with Bryce or staying? It must have been fucking Casey. **

_**He just nodded to her in response and turned to leave back down the elevator, if she wasn't planning on saying goodbye he felt that he shouldn't bother. **_

_**Sarah watched as her former asset just upped and left, without another word. She became worried about him, that was a very unChuck thing to do. He was never a man of no words. **_**Why should I even be caring about his feelings? A CIA agent shouldn't be worried about them.**_** She sighed and thought that it would be the best thing for him, no distractions for either of them. **_**He can continue working with Casey and then eventually have the Intersect removed. It is best if I leave now, before he also falls for me. I'm sure he'll move on quickly.**_** She tried to convince herself. She composed herself and entered the elevator and made her way out to Bryce. **_

Sarah was taken out of her thoughts as Jill grabbed a couple bottles of water from a small fridge and made her way to the cockpit.

* * *

"Hey Chuck" Jill greeted him as she closed the door.

Chuck looked up as she passed him a bottle of water and he thanked her. "You left for the briefing pretty early this morning."

"I couldn't sleep." He replied matter-of-factly.

Jill became concerned and asked softly, hoping it wasn't the case. She hated seeing him in pain. "Nightmares again?"

"Yeah, my red test again. I still see the life fading from his eyes. They were the same color as mine; I can't help but see myself in those eyes." Chuck replied sadly as he turned the auto pilot on and faced her.

"Do you regret what you've become?" She asked quietly, while she placed her hand on his and rubbed small circles with her thumb.

"I miss what part of myself I've lost, but…I know what we do isn't meant to be easy. I'm directly and indirectly protecting those I care about. There is nowhere else I would rather be. If I was stuck in a bunker or killed, look at what might have happened to Morgan. He would be in a ditch, with no one finding his body because of that Triad gang. Luckily we were in the area and Graham held up his side of his agreement." He replied sadly. "Besides, this is the best thing for Ellie."

"What's the deal with Sarah, why is she here?" Jill asked slightly annoyed.

"Graham assigned her to our team, but she is going to be infiltrating the Ring operation in Europe to feed us intel. It seems Graham is still pissed at her though." _Graham can hold a grudge with the best of them. He was really pissed when he found out she left with Bryce, but he had to go along with it or he would lose face with Beckman. _

"How do you feel about her being on the team?"

"I don't know yet. I used to hate her for leaving."

"Did you love her?" Jill asked, almost regretting that she asked the question.

"No. I'm sure of that. Maybe if she stayed longer I might have. I was definitely attracted to her and felt she was a good friend that I could trust. I wanted to see where our relationship could have gone if she gave us the opportunity."

"You sure about that, didn't you become a spy because of her leaving?" Jill asked, still not convinced.

"Yes, I became a spy because she left…" Chuck started but was interrupted by Jill. "So how could you not have loved her if you gave up so much of yourself because of her?" She said angrily, still missing the man he was before all of this. She didn't like all the changes that had come over him.

"It had nothing to do with romantic feelings. I still hate her because of her leaving…well no, not hate…I just blame her for what I've become. If she hadn't left, I wouldn't have been thrown to the wolves all by myself. Once she left, there was no advocate for what's best for _me. Me, _not what was best for the fucking _Intersect. _Not two weeks after she left, I was given the choice of a bunker or being killed unless I joined the CIA. I like to think that if she was there, she could have held off Graham and Beckman's ruthlessness, she was really good at it. I trusted her from the first night I met her because she did exactly that. Once I caught her leaving, without the intention of even saying goodbye…I just lost it. I knew it was only a matter of time until I was thrown into a bunker or maybe even killed. My missions over the following weeks suffered, I flashed less due to paranoia and bitterness. Casey just blamed it on the stupid little nerd being heartbroken. It would seem that Beckman and Graham shared the same thoughts. Graham pretty much said as much when he gave me the ultimatum on the beach."

Jill continued rubbing circles on his hand throughout his confession, she believed his reasons. She knew this life was tough on him, never being able to completely trust someone. Luckily there was enough of him from pre-CIA left in him that he let out between missions. He was surprisingly good at compartmentalizing. She was confident of that since he did save her from a life in prison or being executed for treason after she was found out to be Fulcrum. Not to mention securing herself on one of Graham's top groomed CIA teams. She couldn't believe that it had already been around two years since then. "I'm surprised Graham didn't tell her it was you who saved her back in 09." They were essentially making their way towards becoming a Special Operations Group in the Special Activities Division; they gained their training through experience on the job.

"Well, it was my second mission, the first since my red test. They both interacted so much with Fulcrum while undercover, he wouldn't risk them talking." Chuck replied, in amusement. That had been a satisfying mission. He had to rescue the partner of the man who ruined his life, for the second time, Bryce Larkin. By making Sarah leave with him, he had caused Ellie pain beyond the point of forgiveness in Chuck's eyes, he would forever be known as his Nemesis. Even though he was still alive and not in a bunker, he could clearly hear the pain in Ellie's voice every time they talked over the phone. Devon and Morgan also filled Chuck in on the occasional visible sadness in Ellie since he left for DC. They said it has gotten better since he started visiting for most major holidays and as time went on. She also seemed not to completely buy that he is just an analyst. She was rather pissed he wouldn't elaborate on his job a few weeks ago over Christmas. He hated lying to her more than anything; he owed her so much after their parents left them. To make matters worse, they could rarely talk, at least during training they at least talked once or twice a week for an hour or so, but since he took on missions…she would be lucky to have a call once every few weeks.

As for his Nemesis, Bryce had left Sarah for dead in order to save his own ass, even though he could have probably saved her, leaving her in the hands of Fulcrum. Graham hadn't told either Sarah of her rescuer or Larkin, he wanted to keep the fact that he was a part of the CIA a secret, even from them. Only his few instructors, Emily, and Graham had known that he was an agent by then. By the time they got there, Sarah was so out of it that she couldn't remember who saved her. She spent a few months recovering before returning to active duty according to Graham. That was also the same day that he met Emily, Alex Forest's sister. He rescued her too, but she had only just arrived and was relatively unharmed. She had been engaged at the time, to her husband. She had requested a desk job after that, not willing to gamble a life with her future husband. Chuck had also gained a good friend that day, she helped talk about spy related problems with him. They helped each other on occasion, since she couldn't talk to her husband about it. Chuck liked the perspective of someone out of the active duty side of the CIA; Graham had allowed it, as long as there was no talk of classified missions on his part. Chuck had access to her unredacted file through the Intersect, so she was able to talk about her past missions, as long as they had a device to counter surveillance, just in case someone was listening. So Chuck kept it vague and Emily understood and was fine with it, they made it work.

Her husband was given a cover story that she was kidnapped in a foreign country and Chuck was part of the effort to rescue her. He just assumed Chuck was some kind of negotiator or soldier and refused to take no for an answer when he asked just to be one of the groomsmen at their wedding. Her husband, Paul, wasn't an idiot and knew she did _something _on all her business trips, but he trusted her and didn't press the issue. He also liked Chuck, so he always tried to make a stop to catch up with Paul when he was in town.

"How do you think she will react once you tell her it was you?" Jill inquired.

"I haven't decided if there is a need to bring it up or not. I honestly don't care how she would react to it or not. I've moved on, we have too much on our plate for me to worry about her feelings. She obviously stopped giving a rat's ass about me, almost 3 years ago on the dot."

"You can't let her go undercover like this; she is obviously affected about it, regardless of how you or I feel about her. You need to get her mind on the mission or she could get her killed. I know you would never forgive yourself if that was the case."

* * *

Sarah drifted off to sleep after giving up on waiting for him to come out of the cockpit; it had already been over an hour since they left DC.

* * *

I had planned on including a mission or two this chapter centered on Sarah, but the Jill discussion kind of got away from me. So expect that either next chapter or the one after it. I'm going to try and get another chapter out for Lady Feelings either tomorrow or Monday. Please leave a review!


	5. Chuck vs the Lt

Thanks for all the continuing reviews; it makes it easier to push chapters out! Please continue.

I don't own Chuck or Jason Borne. Enjoy.

Chapter 5 - Chuck vs the Lt.

* * *

_Previously: __"Mountains of western Pakistan. This should be a military operation, but in this case, I don't give a flying fuck. He knows about the Intersect and everyone talks eventually. According to our agent infiltrating the Ring, a man named Daniel Shaw had Casey's unit ambushed by some Taliban fighters in exchange for some brand new weapons and equipment. A body was accounted for every man in Casey's team with the exception of Casey, James Wilson, and a man named Miles. Bring him home by any means necessary, Prometheus."_

_I hope we will be in time, John. We'll be there soon. _Chuck thought to himself as he headed out with his assault rifle laying across his chest, propped up by his left forearm and breaking into a jog with Althea close behind.

* * *

**Swat Region – Northwest Pakistan – 260 km Northwest of Mingaora**

**May 12, 2011**

**6:31 PM Thursday**

Althea and Prometheus looked down at the valley below them; they had jogged nearly the whole way to the suspected area holding Colonel Casey. They were anxious to get in there and see if he is in fact being holed up in the suspected cave. However, due to there not being too much vegetation they would easily be spotted on approach. There inlaid their current problem. They both wanted to head in, knowing their friend is most likely being tortured and questioned. Both knew he could hold out, he was not a man to be taken lightly. Chuck was more worried about the Ring agent behind the capture threatening Casey's family. Luckily Graham had them picked up from LA and taken to a safe house for a nice little vacation in the Rockies.

_That wouldn't stop them from threatening his family though._ Chuck thought to himself bitterly. "We have no choice but to wait until nightfall. Hopefully there will be enough cloud cover to block the little amount of light the moon will provide." He whispered to his partner and taking in the surroundings. There were many different areas where the Taliban could have men in over watch positions. That made Chuck a little uneasy as he began to scan the neighboring rocky mountain terrain.

Althea nodded while looking through the sniper scope of her M24A3. She had found a position to setup and had since been checking the area below them for anymore hostiles. She was on a knee, with her rifle propped up on a bipod on the rock face they were on. She had attached the silencer after they had arrived. Her MP-5 was leaning against the same rock face she was using to steady her aim. They had made their way so that the setting sun would be to their backs, making it more difficult to be spotted, just in case.

Chuck looked at her curiously. _This mission is obviously affecting her. She is normally hard for him to shut up. Starting with the pre-mission jitters, which are normally…very_,_ very uncommon to the point of saying never present. To her lack of any display of emotion. He had never seen her act so…agent like. _Chuck wasn't going unaffected either; he was just trying his best to lose himself in the mission to distract his wandering mind. Casey was almost like an older brother to him by this point and his daughter, Alex thought of Chuck as an honorary Uncle. Hell, he was beginning to think of her as the child he was doomed to never have, robbed of the normal life he had once dreamed of. He had since given up hope, knowing he would forever be a tool of the CIA. The sooner he realized that, the sooner he was able to move past the depression he had first felt from loneliness and self-loathing. Oh how he hated Bryce _Fucking _Larkin. He thought bitterly, which he seemed to being a lot of lately since he came in contact with Sarah again. She served as a constant reminder to him of Bryce. "I'm going to go have a look around. Notify me if anything changes."

"Chuck?" She turned to look away from the scope that was currently pointed towards the lower foothills of the mountain the cave was a part of.

He turned around to look at her before he headed out, "Yes?" He was slightly confused that she called him by his name on a mission. They usually kept it strictly to call signs.

"…I can't rescue the both of you if you get caught." She said with a smirk, some of her usual self cracking through her agent exterior. _Be careful. _She thought to herself, unable to say it out loud.

* * *

**Swat Region Suspected Cave – Northwest Pakistan – 262 km Northwest of Mingaora**

**May 12, 2011**

**6:31 PM Thursday**

Casey grunted as another jolt of electricity shot through his temples, down the rest of his body, finally into the water at his feet, then returning back the way it came.

"What do you know about the whereabouts of Agents Prometheus, Althea, and Ismene?"

"That you are going to find out soon enough, you son of a bitch." Casey grunted out through the pain. _I will enjoy watching you suffer. I just need to hold out long enough for him to get here. _

Keller punched his jaw, hard, as the electricity was halted.

* * *

**Swat Region – Northwest Pakistan – 261 km Northwest of Mingaora**

**May 12, 2011**

**7:24 PM Thursday**

"_Prometheus, what's your status?"_

Chuck heard Althea's voice crack over his earpiece. He was currently stalking a man, trying to access his intentions. He could not see his face, as the man was currently pointing a TAC-50 silenced sniper rifle towards the cave entrance. He recalled both what Graham had mentioned and the file contained in his flash of the incident. There were two men unaccounted for, one Second Lieutenant Miles and First Lieutenant James Wilson, Casey's second in command. Chuck took a smaller scope out of one of the pockets on his BDU and noticed the man had no visible ways to identify him, with the exception of a small scar running down the right side of his neck.

Chuck's eyes rolled back and began to flutter.

_First Lieutenant James Wilson, USMC._

_Recommended for promotion by Colonel Casey to the rank of Captain, promotion still under consideration by the Senate. _

_Currently Serving under Colonel John Casey. _

_Served with John Casey through First Gulf War, Kosovo, Afghanistan War, Second Iraq War_

_Awarded Silver Star under recommendation of then, Captain John Casey, during the Kosovo Campaign. Awarded for extreme valor in saving members of his unit, including current direct commanding officer – Colonel John Casey. _

_Photos of Wilson with Casey during various missions overseas. _

_Note from Graham: Unable to find any ties to any sort of nefarious organization. After having analysts comb through his unrestricted files, it is our judgment that turning is highly unlikely. Especially betraying Casey, who he seems to regard as a brother. From reading various reports, Wilson credits him with saving his life more than a few times. There are no family members to be held over his head to get his compliance. Wilson is was an orphan and joined the Marines as soon as he was the correct age, straight out of an orphanage. _

Chuck's flash ended. _I suppose Casey rose quickly through the ranks when he became a part of the NSA. He left as a captain and came back to his unit as a Colonel. Interesting._ _Heh. Graham's note sounds familiar to our friendship. Three might work better than two. _Chuck queued up his communication device in his ear; he whispered quietly – his voice being normalized by the receiving earpiece of his partner. "I found one of the missing men. Intel makes him out to be some sort of hero. He has personally rescued his unit before and was awarded a Silver Star recommended by Deimos. Zeus's army of analysts agrees, he isn't likely to turn against Deimos."

"_How will you proceed?" She replied over the headset. _

"I'll approach with caution. I've activated the GPS only you know about. See if you can get eyes on us, I am directly above him about 30 meters back. We're directly to your northwest, about one click away. Assigning him codename Amon if this pans out."

"_Roger." About 20 seconds pass before her voice cracks in Chuck's ear, "I've got him, unable to locate you. He is well hidden though; I was only able to see him from your coordinates."_

"Be ready to give him a warning shot, you had better not miss." Chuck adds, challenging her. He knows how to motivate her.

"_I might just miss and hit your manhood." She replied._

"Never. You enjoy it too much."

"_True, I might just nick a leg or arm then."_

Chuck smirked at the usual banter and watched as his prey adjusted his shoulder slightly, looking directly at the cave. Chuck adjusted his scope to zoom in and noticed what sparked his curiosity. He saw what appeared to be an American, in his late forties, early fifties. He carried himself like a military type. He glanced at Wilson, to see if he recognized the man. His little scope wasn't powerful enough to give a clear picture of the man by the cave. He could only see the right side of Wilson's profile, but even then he could notice the visible scowl emanating from his face. It appeared it was taking a great amount of self-control for Wilson to not pull the trigger, his trigger finger edging back and forth, closer to squeezing it.

Chuck took the moment of Wilson's distraction to make his presence known. He silently made his way down to Wilson. Well as silently as you can move downhill, on terrain with nothing but loose rocks, towards Wilson.

Wilson heard a few rocks being displaced and brought his left hand down quickly to his M1911. Just as he was gripping the pistol, a well placed shot clipped the rock beside where his TAC-50 was currently propped up by a bipod.

"The next shot won't miss." Prometheus said as he neared Wilson. "Lieutenant Wilson, place your pistol beside your sniper rifle and turn around slowly with your hands where I can see them."

Wilson took notice of the American accent. He was worried that Chuck was working for Keller. He had a run in with Keller before he was declared rogue nearly three years ago when Casey was being blackmailed. Luckily Wilson had been between deployments and was able to help his long time friend. He helped Casey take down Keller and his men while another man, rescued Casey's ex-fiancé and daughter that he never knew he had. Both men never knew the identity of each other, since what they were doing was technically treason and Wilson was not authorized to act in non military matters on US soil. Keller was supposed to be locked up in some hole for the rest of his remaining life. "Who are you, are you working for? Keller? Did you help him escape?" Wilson demanded, very angrily. He noticed the unidentified man currently holding a suppressed HK416, with an ACOG scope replacing the iron sights, pointed at his head - slightly lowering it at the mention of Keller's name.

Chuck flashed back in memory to 2008, after his return from rescuing Sarah and Emily. He was granted a small vacation, as the event was his first real mission after his red test. He had to kill more men than he ever thought he would be capable of, not to mention the sight he was greeted with after locating Sarah.

_**Casey had just shown up to Casa Bartowski, after being notified by Ellie. She noticed that Chuck was clearly shaken up about something, but was not able to get him to talk. She knew Casey was involved in whatever Chuck did somehow, it all added up when Chuck said he was an analyst for the CIA. She suspected both Casey and maybe even Sarah were responsible. As much as she tried to pry it out of Chuck and Casey, she couldn't get them to admit to anything behind Casey being a retired US Marine Colonel and Chuck being an Analyst. **_

**Chuck returning home couldn't have come at a better time. **_**Casey thought to himself as they were given some privacy by Ellie. Devon was on shift at the hospital and Ellie wanted to get a welcome home dinner whipped up for Chuck. She lacked the necessary ingredients so she went shopping while the two friends talked. She figured they would just leave if Ellie was around anyways. Even though she was frustrated at the two lying to her, she was still worried about her brother. She had never seen him so…devoid of happiness. He tried to smile and reassure her everything was fine, but the smiles never quite reached his eyes and he lacked his usual enthusiasm. **_

"_**I don't ask this lightly…you could be charged with treason."**_

**Chuck took in his tone and noticed how hard it was for Casey to ask someone for help. **_**"What's going on, John?"**_

"_**My real name isn't John Casey. My name is Alex Cobern."**_

"_**I don't understand, I thought the NSA didn't use aliases on domestic missions."**_

"_**The NSA doesn't know I am Alex Cobern. When I was in my early twenties, I was some hotshot sniper in the Rangers. I applied for Special Forces training and was approached by man named Keller. He offered me a place to train for his unit. He faked my death and placed me into NSA training. I was transferred to the Marines and became the CO of a Force Recon group in the 90s, during the first Iraq War. I was used as Beckman's problem solver between deployments with my unit. She sometimes used our specific unit if the situation required it."**_

"_**What does this have to do with why you need me?" Chuck asked curiously. **_

"_**Keller is trying to blackmail me into stealing a drug from the CIA. I can't go to the NSA for help or even the CIA. I could be thrown out of the Marines and the NSA and stripped of my rank."**_

"_**How are they blackmailing you?"**_

"_**I had a fiancé, when my death was faked. I didn't know it at the time, but she also was pregnant with my daughter. Keller is threatening to kill them unless I retrieve a drug called Laudenal."**_

"_**What is it used for?"**_

"_**Suppressing emotions."**_

"_**I could use something like that."**_

"_**No you couldn't. Prolonged use can eventually lead to you being emotionless. The organization that Keller works for obviously doesn't care."**_

"_**What is your plan?"**_

"_**I have until 6 PM tonight to give Keller the drug. I was thinking you could go to my ex-fiancé and daughter and protect them. They'll most likely have someone watching over them, if they haven't kidnapped them yet. I'll go deal with Keller."**_

_**Chuck nodded with determination and asked, "Address? Do you have any backup?"**_

"_**Another friend from the Marines. I trust him with my life."**_

"_**Who is he?"**_

"_**It is better if you don't know."**_

_**Chuck took his word for it. He also trusted Casey with his life, one of the few people he actually did. **_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Chuck pulled up to the street Casey gave him. He immediately noticed the Gas company van parked on the street in front of Kathleen's house. Chuck parked a few houses down and made his way behind the house he parked behind. He made his way down the various backyards, luckily there were no dogs along the way. Once he approached Kathleen's backyard, he slowed down and peered over the fence. He saw nothing in the immediate area and quickly launched himself over the fence and sprinted to the house. He peered inside the house, noticing Kathleen and what he assumed was Casey's daughter, Alex, tied to a few chairs with a couple men pacing around the house in one of the front rooms. Chuck made his way back to the backyard, where the kitchen was facing. **_

_**Chuck looked at his watch. **_**6:00 PM on the dot **_**he thought to himself.**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Casey watched as his Marine buddy constructed a way for him to remain underneath Casey's SUV. There wasn't enough ground clearance for him to bring his loyal Crown Vic. **_

"_**Thanks for doing this Wilson…"**_

"_**Don't even start, it's the least I could do after what you did for me in Kosovo."**_

_**Casey grunted in resignation, not arguing the point. **_

"_**I'm ready, light a cigar and drop the matches to tell me how many men I have to deal with. You take care of that son of a bitch Keller."**_

_**Casey grunted in approval, Wilson always was quick on his feet. "I can't kill him unfortunately; I'm going off the reservation here. I might be able to use him as a bargaining chip for either the CIA or NSA to pump information out of him about Fulcrum."**_

_**Wilson replied, "True, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun killing the men outside."**_

_**Casey grunted, jealous that he won't have any gunplay.**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Chuck screwed into place a suppressor to his trusty M9 and slid a round into the chamber while clicking off the safety. He watched as a man who was in the kitchen facing the backyard, turned to go into another room. Chuck quietly picked the lock on the door and made his way inside. He pivoted into the room with Kathleen and Alex and squeezed the trigger four times, two shots to the chest of both men inside the room. Another man came rushing in the door with his firearm raised, before he could react to Chuck, he received a bullet literally ending his thought process. Both Kathleen and Alex pushed their chairs on the floor, smartly using a sofa as some sort of improvised shield at Alex's advisement. **_

_**An Asian man charged Chuck and kicked the gun out of Chuck's hand and pulled out a knife. Chuck dodged the first thrust and kicked him back in the abdomen. The man recovered while Chuck quickly rolled up a magazine tightly and started accessing the man, looking for any weaknesses. The Asian charged Chuck and slashed down towards Chuck's neck, which he dodged. Chuck returned with a slap with the magazine to the man's right temple. As Chuck deflected another blow by crashing his forearm down on the man's wrist, he smacked the man with the magazine to the back of the head as he pivoted around him. The force knocked the man down and he kicked out with his leg to sweep Chuck off his feet. Chuck met his leg and kicked down on his kneecap, popping it out of place. The man grimaced in pain and tried to slash Chuck's hamstring, Chuck kicked out in response to the man's forearm, launching the knife out of his hand. Chuck punched downwards and knocked the man to the ground, unconscious. **_

_**Chuck quickly looked over to the first room, the two men he shot were still down on the ground and had pools of blood making their way out of their chests. **_**Good no vests. **_**Chuck looked through the man's pockets and found more zip ties that were used to secure Kathleen and Alex. He pulled the man's arms together behind his back and secured his wrists, making it nearly impossible for him to get out of them without a knife. He quickly frisked the man and found no more knives.**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Chuck dialed Graham, "Sir, I'll need a cleanup crew at the following address I am texting you."**_

"_**What happened?" Graham growled. **_

"_**John Casey's ex-fiancé and daughter were abducted by a group of traitors loyal to Fulcrum."**_

"_**Why didn't you call me earlier for authorization?" Graham was not too pleased.**_

**Chuck quickly thought of what he hoped, was a logical response. **_**"I thought you might want your hands washed from this in case it went south."**_

"_**Since when does Casey have a ex-fiance and daughter?"**_

"_**I can't give you the details. Let's just say Casey gave them up when he was recruited by the NSA. He didn't know he had a daughter until earlier today. The alternative to getting my help was to attempt and steal a drug called Laudenal, which I am sure you are well aware of."**_

"_**That's what they were after? I'll have it destroyed immediately. It could be too dangerous if Fulcrum or another organization creates their own Intersect. It isn't worth the risk."**_

"_**I agree, Art. I need a favor. I'm sure you'll want something in return at one point. I know I am making a deal with the devil, in a manner of speaking, but I need you to keep all of this quiet, especially from the NSA."**_

_**Graham paused and the line went silent for a few minutes as Graham thought it over. "Very well. I have a cleanup crew on the way. I want a full debriefing on this; you can omit the details pertaining to the Colonel."**_

"_**Thanks, Art."**_

"_**Perhaps I can use this one day for my advantage."**_

"_**How so?"**_

"_**Helps to have friends in a rival agency, don't worry Chuck, it won't be as nefarious as you might think. Someday we might want him on our side of things."**_

"_**I won't take part in blackmailing him into anything."**_

"_**I never said we would. He just might feel he owes us, which I might add, he clearly does after this."**_

"_**He might owe you, but I'm still in his debt."**_

"_**He won't see it that way, I assure you." With that, Graham terminated the call.**_

_**Chuck threw his phone against the wall and yelled, "SON OF A BITCH!" **_**I knew what I was getting into, there was no alternative.**_** He made his way over to the remains of his phone and pulled out the SIM card to transfer to another phone. **_

_**Alex appeared in the room Chuck was using to talk to Graham and asked, "Who are you and who are these men?"**_

"_**I'm a friend of your father. He should be here soon, he can explain everything." Chuck said without thinking that the daughter thought her father died almost 21 years ago.**_

"…_**my father? He's dead! He died a hero before I was born!"**_

_**Chuck inwardly cringed, "I assure you, Alex Cobern is very much alive. He'll explain once he gets here, it is not my place."**_

"_**So who are you? You never answered my questions."**_

"_**I work…I work for the government. Your father does too. These men were criminals trying to blackmail your father." Chuck watched as Alex took in his words. **_**She's doing better than I would have expected someone in her position to be. **

"…_**How can I believe you? Do you have any sort of identification?"**_

"_**Not on me, no. For now you'll have to take my word for it. I did just save you from the men who broke into your home and tied you up after all."**_

"_**Good point I suppose."**_

_**Just then, Casey stormed through the door on a war path. **_

"_**Nice of you to join me Casey." Chuck said. **_

"_**We took care of the other matter."**_

"_**I see. A cleanup crew will be here soon. Graham knows."**_

_**Casey growled. **_

"_**It couldn't be avoided."**_

"_**What did you have to agree to?"**_

"_**I'm not sure yet." Chuck walked towards the door, "You have a bit of explaining to do. I sort of let it slip that Alex's father is still alive."**_

"_**I'll take care of it. Apologize to Ellie for me about missing dinner tonight?"**_

"_**Sure."**_

_**Casey nodded in response as he watched one of his few only friends leave. "Thanks, Chuck."**_

"_**Anytime."**_

_**Alex watched the exchange, barely containing herself. **_

_**As Chuck left the door he heard Alex say, "Dad?"**_

Chuck was knocked out of his flashback as Wilson started to edge closer, he obviously noticed Chuck's faraway look.

"How do you know Keller?" Prometheus asked with venom in his voice, stopping Wilson in his tracks as he leveled his assault rifle back to Wilson's forehead.

"He kidnapped a friend's fiancé and daughter." He replied.

"You mean ex-fiancé?"

Wilson's eyes narrowed in surprise. "The last I saw of him, he was knocked out and being stuffed into the back of a SUV by said friend."

Chuck lowered his weapon, "It's you! You're the Marine who helped him kill Keller's men while Casey beat the shit out of him in his own cabin!" He exclaimed.

"You're the CIA friend who saved his ex-fiancé and daughter?" He replied, in shock.

"Indeed I am. What are you doing here?" Chuck asked then added. "How?"

"Someone betrayed our team and lured us into an ambush inside our target's cave. I heard Mile's voice before the Colonel's earpiece was taken out. When I went into the cave, he was shot though."

Chuck nodded. "Why didn't you call it in?"

Wilson pulled out his sat phone and tossed it to Chuck. He examined it quickly and tossed it aside.

"How did that happen?"

"Casey assigned me as over watch with my TAC-50 as usual. A Haji snuck up on me and when I turned around. He missed his thrust to my back and stabbed the phone instead. I would have lost their trail if I went back to our Humvees to call it in."

Chuck asked into his earpiece, "Did you get all that Althea?"

"_All of it. We could definitely use a third body. If he was Casey's number 2, I'm sure he won't get in our way."_

Chuck snorted at the reference to Star Trek before agreeing.

"We're here for him. We got intel he was taken here. We could use a third."

"Only brought two?" Wilson replied in surprise.

"The military didn't exactly approve of our mission. They wanted to cut their losses."

Wilson's face turned into a vicious scowl, "I'm in. Got any extra water? I'm almost out."

Chuck grinned and tossed him his canteen. "We go in once it becomes pitch black, got your night vision with you?"

"Of course. I also have a thermal scope, as well as a regular night vision scope."

"Good, pack up and follow me to our other teammate. Your codename will be Amon."

"Greek?"

"Yes. I am Prometheus and my partner is Althea. Welcome to the CIA."

* * *

Some of the back story for Casey's recruitment into the NSA by Keller I adjusted to fit in with this AU. I also changed Keller to work for Fulcrum to fit in the timeframe. Thoughts/Comments?


	6. Chuck vs Colombia

Sorry about the delay, I know it has been a while but I've been busy this month. Updates should happen more frequently, but I am still quite busy. Hopefully this chapter turned out well, it feels like it has been forever since I've written fanfiction. Also, great episode last night amirite? Much better opener than season 3.

And the usual I don't own Chuck.

* * *

Rough timeline:

Jan 2008 - Sept 2008 Chuck's Training

Late Sept/Oct – Chuck's red test and saving Sarah

Dec 2008 – Sometime in 2009 – Jill/Chuck against Fulcrum

Nov 2009 – Not established yet – Althea/Chuck

Chuck vs. Colombia

* * *

**45 km north of Medellin, Colombia **

**November 5, 2009**

**6:31 PM Thursday**

The blonde agent shifted her shoulder to adjust the sight of her sniper rifle. Through her scope she could see the armed guards patrolling around the outskirts of the estate. For the past few months she had been tracking down ranking members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and building intel for her superiors for them to act upon. She had to seduce, kill, and whatever else it took to get the information for her mission. She could feel the mission coming to a close and couldn't wait to be back stateside or off on a beach drinking one of those beverages with little umbrellas improving on her tan. Earlier in the week she was able to narrow down the location of a few very high ranking members of FARC.

FARC is responsible for a vast network of Cocaine being produced and then shipped north up through Panama then through neighboring Latin American countries to the States. They also manage to export Cocaine into the UK, the drug becoming more popular in the UK clubbing scene recently. Once FARC got involved in the drug trade, there was both a rise of violence in Mexico and in the States, especially along the border along Arizona and Texas. The DEA wants to shut them down due to the drug impact, while the CIA wants them shut down for funding a domestic terrorist group that is gaining power in the States and is starting to spread throughout the European Union.

A commotion at the south gate brought the agent out of her musings and she let go of her sniper rifle, which was propped up by a bipod and took out her camera to obtain more photos, taking in another group of men arriving at the gate. In the past few days, there had been a steady influx of men that she was unable to identify but she took photos and relayed to her superiors. She was ordered not to act on them in any way; they would be taken care of. When she inquired about sending in a gunship to take them out, her director claimed they wanted to make sure they had no warning or no time to flee. The Colombian government isn't exactly corruption free after all; they would still have to get permission from the government to send in the strike. However, if they were to make it appear as though it was a coup inside their organization or of a rival group, the United States could deny their involvement, naturally. Unfortunately for the blonde agent, that meant the need to bring the CIA on board. The CIA has more room to provide covert operations abroad.

The agent sighed; she was looking forward to a hands-on approach herself. She pulled out her satellite phone and dialed her director, hoping she will be a part of the operation once the CIA takes over.

"Director Davis, secure."

"Hansen, secure."

"Status report?"

"Another group of our targets have entered the estate. The meeting should be taking place within the next 24 hours according to my contacts. The estate sure is filling up by the hour."

"I'm sure that you can. Regardless, the CIA has _insisted _that if we are to continue this case, we will do so in conjunction with them. They went over my head and received operating authority in this, as it may lead to the breakdown of a domestic terrorist group from receiving funding. I was just barely able to argue for you to see this through, they are sending an agent down there."

_God damn CIA. _Carina sighed. "I suppose there is nothing we can do to change this?"

"No. Don't screw this up either Carina; we can't afford your improvisation screwing this up."

"_An _Agent? They are sending one person for this?"

"Yes. I am told he is one of the best the CIA has to offer and you have worked briefly with him before. I did not get his name for the alias he used while you two worked together. His codename is Prometheus. You will defer to his judgment, do not screw this up. No improvising unless completely necessary. Do I make myself clear?"

Carina sighed in response, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Good. Call me if any issues arise." She added and then the line went dead.

* * *

**42 km north of Medellin, Colombia**

**November 5, 2009**

**6:35 PM Thursday**

Chuck checked his GPS showing the corresponding location of his soon-to-be partner. He looked through a sniper scope, not attached to a rifle and located the general area she would be located in. Graham was kind enough to provide him with her current GPS coordinates provided by the DEA during his call. He had arrived in Medellin a few days previous and made the trek up into the mountainous area of Colombia near the target estate. Due to the tough terrain, he was unable to drive up and opted to hike. Not wanting to risk a jump into the mountains. There are too many possible eyes that could see the chute and a night jump could be risky with all the trees and vegetation everywhere.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a vibration of his Sat Phone.

"Prometheus, secure."

"Zeus, secure. I just got off the phone with DEA Director Davis. She claims her agent has just spotted a new round of targets arriving at the estate. I'm sending the photos to your phone; confirm the identity of our targets with your special talents. We have _no _room for errors in this; we need Chavez, Garcia, and Ring operative Agent White eliminated. The Ring cannot be allowed to provide funds to FARC in exchange for funneling drugs into the States. Their ability to corrupt more politicians, soldiers, agents, and other government officials would increase drastically, not to mention their own development of Intersect 2.0."

"Understood. Where is my partner, I assumed we would be meeting up in Colombia after our last mission in the States?" _I parted with Jill assuming we would be put on the same mission. What's Graham up to now?_

"Ismene is currently working in Europe; expect to be separated for an indefinite period of time. Make contact with Agent Hansen."

_Damn. _"Prometheus, out." He replied and disconnected the call before Graham could say anything else. He wasn't too happy about being split up from Jill for an indefinite period of time. They had grown close over their extended mission to take down Fulcrum over the past year. _Hell we haven't spent more than a week apart since she was cleared to be his partner. She is the closest thing I have a friend out in the spy world besides Casey._ Chuck checked the coordinates again and scouted out the best possible path, in order to bypass any sort of patrols from the estate. Once he located his roundabout path, he headed out deeper into the thick forest.

* * *

Chuck stealthily approached the coordinates, making sure to go in the least direct route to the location. He made sure the wind was in the correct direction, just in case there were some patrols coming from the estate that he couldn't see in the dense forest. By the time he was less than a km from Carina, it was already turning into dusk. There was more than enough light left in order for him to navigate without having to pull on night vision though. He pulled out his suppressed M9 and loaded a round into the chamber and flicked the safety off as he went.

A few minutes passed revealing Chuck approaching a prone form on the ground, without making a single noise that the human range of hearing could make out. Expertly preventing him from crushing twigs and making noise in order to draw any attention from the prone female less than ten feet in front of him. He watched as the figure tensed up, as if she sensed his presence.

* * *

Carina looked down from her perch within some vegetation providing some cover from the estate. She wasn't too worried about the FARC guards skimming the perimeter; they would have to know exactly where she was to _maybe _catch a glimpse of her. Her hide was too well placed inside of a bush, overlooking the estate that was slightly below her.

She tensed up as she sensed someone else's presence. She listened intently to the sounds of the forest and noticed a slight change. She reached to a sheath near her chest to grab one of her throwing knives and prepared to roll to the side hoping to catch her attacker off guard.

"Now now Carina, is that a way to greet an old friend?" a voice sounded out behind her.

_That voice…it sounds so familiar but I can't place it. _She knew for a fact that the voice belonged to the man the CIA sent, she just couldn't remember the voice. She pulled herself up; ready to have to defend herself if needed, not that there would be much of a fight if there was a gun pointed at her. She could tell the man was still a good few strides away from her, even with the long legs of her 5'9 frame.

With a slight smirk, knowing she most likely didn't remember the sound of his voice, as their mission together was very almost two year ago. "As you might have guessed, I am Prometheus, Graham sends his regards." He added the last part with a touch of sarcasm. Graham despised relying on other agencies. His dislike isn't exclusive with the NSA.

By now, Carina had turned around and noticed Chuck resting his back against a tree with an amused expression, with his pistol pointed in her general direction casually. She couldn't believe that the lanky nerd analyst from California was standing in front of her. _Damn. To say he's changed since I last saw him would be an understatement. I almost can't recognize him. Mmm, I approve of the trimmed beard and short hair. _"…Chuckles…?"

"Hello Carina! Surprised to see me?"

"..uhh..I always thought there was more to Burbank with Walker and Casey babysitting you. So you were an agent then?" Carina fished.

"No, but not long after that I entered training."

"Hmmph. So is Walker your partner then? I thought she went back to Larkin." Carina baits with a smirk, remembering his fondness for a certain blonde agent. Truthfully she had no idea what Sarah had been up to since she left Burbank. All she knew was that Sarah went deep and they were barely able to communicate.

He answered with the same face, Sarah leaving him had long since stopped affecting him in the way that just her name gave him pain to reminisce. "I'm not sure. We parted ways a few months after the Wookie mission."

"Ah."

"Scan the area; make sure no one is around while we were catching up." Chuck ordered. He decided to get on task and pulled his bag off his shoulder and placed it on the ground in front of him. He took the MP5 slung to his pack and placed it beside him on the ground. Carina observed Chuck in a completely new light. Even with him sneaking up on him, she was skeptical. Watching him maliciously remove items and check over things, it was different from her version of Chuck from Burbank. He pulled out bricks of C4 and remote detonators, setting them up to be able to detonate as soon as they are needed. She continued to watch him out of the corner of her eye as she scanned the area around them and checking the patrols of the estate to make sure there was the same level of presence.

"We have a side mission apart from insuring the death of Chavez, Garcia, and Ring operative. Our orders are to setup C4 in a way to produce secondary explosions. Since this is an estate, they do not do too much drug creation here, so producing secondary explosions is out from that, however, our intel shows they have a high volume of weapons being stockpiled. Along with assault rifles, small arms, and the like, they recently acquired Stinger missiles as a show of 'good faith' to the FARC from the Ring. Usually FARC does not act as a terrorist organization like other cartels, we at least know they will not target civilian airliners, but they will definitely take advantage of them to eliminate gunships. The CIA's hope is that the Colombians will blame this attack on rival leaders within FARC or other rival paramilitary groups operating in the region."

"Why wasn't I told of this before?" She asked as he handed her an equal amount of setup C4 blocks.

"The CIA aspect of this mission did not come into fruition until recently. Before this was a purely DEA sanctioned mission. As soon as Langley discovered the Ring connection to FARC, Director Graham brought me into the loop. That was about four days ago. We discovered the link from the Stingers with CIA and NSA intel. We were then able to put the pieces together and confirm Ring involvement."

"That good memory again, huh?"

"…Yeah. We have to move fast once it gets dark, luckily there isn't much light from the moon, so we should be able to make it over the lower walls without being seen. We move once it is dark enough. We will have to move fast, once we blow up the estate. Primary fall back is back to Medellin. Secondary is the Panama border. If we can't kill Chavez and Garcia then this mission is a complete waste. Both _have _to die. The Ring can always send another man, but Chavez and Garcia are the power behind persuading FARC to work with the Ring."

"Understood."

They were interrupted by Chuck's sat phone vibrating. "Prometheus, secure." He replied in a whisper, still paranoid that a patrol could have sneaked up on them.

"Zeus, secure. UAV thermal scans show no one has left the immediate area of the estate. I will send you a text if we show people missing."

"Roger, we're heading out within a few minutes."

"Good hunting." Graham responded then the line went dead.

* * *

Chuck and Carina approached the perimeter of the estate, which have low walls, easily scalable by both tall individuals. Chuck signaled for Carina to go up first, he covered her with his suppressed MP5, making sure the somewhat usual guard timings were working in their favor, which they were. Once he was satisfied, he made his way over the wall. They were in a side area, with very little light and far enough away from the mansion of the estate itself. Both were using their night vision goggles. They had to pass garden-like areas with plenty of bushes and areas for both the predators and their prey to be hiding. Even though the estate is in the mountains, the area still got more than enough rain and was able to maintain a very upper class type of living. Chuck shouldered his MP5, the submachine gun dangling from the sling. He pulled out his tactical knife and his suppressed M9 and stalked towards a side entrance that he pulled from schematics stored in the Intersect.

Carina followed off to the side, about 5 meters from her partner. She also had out her knife and a suppressed Sig Sauer P229. She saw two sentries off to her side having a smoke and glanced over at Chuck, noticing that he also noticed the two. Chuck moved forward and signaled for Carina to take the right. They both approached and cuffed their mouths and noses, preventing them from making unwanted noise. Chuck deftly slammed his knife through his man's back, into his kidney and slowly lowered him to the ground as he began to cough up blood and bleed out. Carina opted to slice her target's neck and eased him to the ground. They dragged both bodies behind some hedges and scanned the area.

_I still can't believe this is the same man who screamed and ran into a mail room of a hotel a few years ago. I wonder what pushed him into this life. Ahhhh…snap out of it Carina. I can always 'interrogate' him after the mission. _Carina smirked, if Chuck had been watching and able to see it in the low light, he would have noticed a very distinctive predatory grin forming on Carina's face._ Your loss Walker. _

Chuck looked at Carina and nodded then stalked off towards the mansion, slightly bent over to blend in with the hedges he was currently using as a shield for his left side. She followed a few meters back, directly behind him, mimicking his motions. Regardless of her inner monologue, she did enjoy watching Chuck in action. She hadn't had a partner in quite a well, almost as long as since she left Burbank. It was an odd sense of déjà vu for her. He reminded her of Bryce in certain mannerisms, but in other aspects he still maintained some of the qualities she noticed in Burbank. _Hopefully this won't be the last time we work together. _Meanwhile she had continued to scan the area, only slightly distracted. She still maintained her light footfalls and barely made a sound.

Ten minutes later, after making sure they weren't being observed, they managed to sneak within a short range of the mansion. There was their intended target, a side door leading into the basement. There was guard patrolling around the area, not standing directly outside the door. Both agents flipped their night vision off and kneeled down outside of the guard's line of sight along the mansion's stone walls, there was enough light from the windows above and a flood light outside the door for them to see clearly.

Chuck signaled for Carina to stay put and he moved off to the side to distract the guard. He made a bit of noise and the guard cautiously moved forward. Once he was far enough away from possible prying eyes, he shot the man in the chest and checked his pulse. Satisfied, he dragged him off to the side, once again placing a body in bushes. Chuck was already wearing camouflage like the Ring agent was wearing, he wouldn't have too much of an issue blending in, minus his MP5. He left it behind and stashed his suppressed M9 in the small of his back under his uniform.

The plan was for Chuck to go in first and make sure that it would be clear enough for Carina to come in. The problem would lie with Carina. Not many females belong in the FARC paramilitary. Not to mention bombshells who look like they should be walking down a Swedish runway. Even the BDU couldn't diminish her attractiveness. He opened the door, finding it unlocked. _I suppose they aren't expecting anyone to be attacking them up here. _Chuck mused. He looked down into the basement and noticed a group of four playing cards, while another two sat on watching and laughing while the man, who had the most chips, currently lost the majority of his with a bad hand. Chuck spoke into his mic softly, mindful to see if any of the men noticed. "Get in here in two minutes, don't be late."

"I'll be there." Carina responded.

Chuck realized there wasn't a way around it; they would have to kill the six men down here. He didn't want to start a shootout, not liking the odds of one of the men getting a lucky shot in. He decided the best option would be to move closer to the group and attempt to be social, hoping he could pass off as a Ring agent.

He moved in closer and spoke in perfect, region specific Spanish, thanks to the Intersect, "Got room for another?" He added a stack of local currency to hopefully, help sway them. He also hoped with the Intersect doing the heavy lifting, they would assume he is in fact a Ring agent due to his perfect Spanish, hoping that they would imply that the Ring would speak someone who could pick up on all the nuances of their language during the negotiations. Even the grunts knew the Ring might become players within the FARC. These were the men loyal to Chavez and Garcia.

The men eyed him suspiciously but decided he looked much like the Ring agent earlier, even if he looked a bit American. The dealer responded, "Pull up a chair."

Chuck had noticed they were playing a style of poker similar to Texas Hold'em. Not that it would matter; it would be over in a few seconds when Carina approached the table. The entrance to the basement had poor lighting, so she would be able to get in range very quickly.

As the dealer began to deal the new hands, Carina said she was coming in. Chuck didn't like the odds of drawing his pistol, too easy to get it knocked out of his hands with six men within a few meters of him. At best, he'd be able to take out only a few men before either he was shot or he was disarmed. He analyzed the table and felt he would be able to lift it and tip it over very easily. At this point Carina was approaching and the men were beginning to take notice. At first they seemed to hesitate, it had obviously been quite a while since this particular group had seen an attractive female. Chuck used it to his advantage and took their hesitation to flip the table. In the same upward motion when he was flipping the table, he kicked out towards one of the men standing to the side previously watching the game. A pop was heard, his kneecap being dislocated. He followed it up with a hard right hook downwards to the man's face as the man fell to his knee grasping his knee. The man fell to the floor unconscious.

Carina by then managed to break into the melee. _Finally, a knife fight. _She thought with a sneer as she deflected a man's thrust holding a knife and kicking out towards another man's forearm, causing him to release his pistol. Carina had her own knives out and made short order of the man charging her with a knife. She parried his attack by blocking his arm with her forearm and followed through with a slice at the man's throat but he raised his other arm to deflect. However, Carina's second knife cut through his arm instead, he groaned loudly in pain.

Chuck pulled his knife out quickly and threw it at a man approaching Carina from behind; he didn't wait to see if it reached his destination. He was confident the trajectory would align with the man. A second later he was rewarded with the sound of a blade piercing flesh. As he spun back around he kicked out at his current target, knocking him back over a chair causing him to lose his balance. He stalked forward on the downed victim but was unable to finish it, due to a pair coming at him. They were the men on the other side of the table and were thrown down to the ground when Chuck flung the table at them. They finally joined the fight, one using a knife while the other came at him with fists.

As the man instinctively grasped his bleeding arm, Carina ended his life by separating the tissue of his throat. She heard the sickening sound of a knife impacting a man that was approaching her from behind. She didn't have even a second to think about it as a kick hit her forearm, dislodging one of her knives and causing it to fall to the ground unceremoniously. She reacted and parried the follow up of a fist narrowly missing the side of her head. She reached and parried the third incoming blow by a man who had both a size and weight advantage, but she was much quicker. She was able to deflect his incoming blows and kicks and react with her own. She hit him first in the chest with a closed fist of her left hand, causing the man's momentum to slow slightly, and then she brought a powerful chop downwards on the exposed skin of his forearm with her right hand, which also deflected another incoming blow. She spun around with a roundhouse to the man's chest, close to where she previously hit him. As he stumbled back towards the wall, the air was knocked out of him and he was grasping for breath. She took the opportunity to end his life with her remaining knife. She turned around to get a better view of the action and noticed when Chuck was dealing with two newcomers from the opposite side of the table. She also saw as a man was trying to get up as she assumed he was catapulted over the now broken wooden chair. Realizing it would take her longer to get to man who was slowly getting up; she hurled her remaining knife at the man. She didn't hit a vital organ, but it was enough to take him out of the fight until she could reach him.

Chuck was getting mentally, not physically tired of this fight. Any second either reinforcements could be coming through the door if they were close enough to hear the few groans of pain or a random group could come through the door. He wanted the fight to end and to end now. He went down to one knee then sprung upwards with a closed fist to the man's abdomen. Feeling air rush past above his head from the man swiping with a knife and hearing the grunt as the man he hit clutched his abdomen in pain, the air knocked out of him momentarily. He grabbed the man who thrust the knife at him by his forearm and flipped him in the air on his side. He hit the ground. Hard. Chuck pulled out his M9 and shot both men who were distracted, one still grasping his stomach while the other hit the stone floor.

Carina walked forward and repeated the same action on the man she threw the knife at with her P229 and the first man who Chuck knocked unconscious. She said with a smirk to Chuck, "We probably could have just avoided all of that if we started shooting after the initial shock of you flipping the table."

"True, but it could have also allowed one of them to pull out their own gun. All it would take is one unsuppressed shot for the whole of FARC to come down upon us. Besides, I thought you liked knife fights?"

_Wow he remembered that one little comment from nearly two years ago? Good memory indeed. _"Fair enough, we wouldn't have had quite as much fun."

He forced the grin off his face at having someone to banter with again. He found Jill was a little too serious, probably why their relationship never sparked up as it had during college. They were partners, completely platonic partners. He did feel that Carina being a redhead fit her personally better than blonde though. "Right. The Stinger shouldn't be too far along. Set up a charge in here."

She nodded and grabbed her knife and wiped it off on the fallen man's shirt and retrieved the other one that was knocked out of her hand as he went to the door and pulled out some optics to check under the door. She stood on top of a chair and placed a brick of C4 in the rafters. As she landed on the floor again she noticed Chuck had looked up and took in the view of her legs and ass as she stretched up to the ceiling and she smirked. _Not so one-sided this time. Walker's loss indeed._

_

* * *

_

I've decided to split up the chapter here. The next update won't be nearly as delayed as this chapter. I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks for reading and please leave a review or three. Next chapter will either finish off this chapter or I will finish the arc with rescuing Casey. Depends what I am in the mood for I suppose or what you want to read next. Don't be disappointed if I go a certain route and you didn't leave a review saying you wanted the other.


End file.
